


Wouldn't it Be Nice

by silentsnowdrop, WhatIsThisNonsense



Series: Wouldn't It Be Nice [1]
Category: Persona 4
Genre: Multi, Robot AU, This has taken on such a life of its own, Triplet AU, written with whatisthisnonsense
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-26
Updated: 2017-07-07
Packaged: 2018-03-25 21:17:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 38,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3825367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silentsnowdrop/pseuds/silentsnowdrop, https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhatIsThisNonsense/pseuds/WhatIsThisNonsense
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yosuke used to be normal. He used to be human. Now he's not, and he's useless. At least, until the Narukamis come to town--such a shame that it's just in time to talk about murder.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Leave Me Alone (I’m Lonely)

**Author's Note:**

> In which it is discovered that Yosuke Hanamura is very much Not Human. (Or hey, I wrote an Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon!Yosuke story crossed with whatisthisnonsense’s triplet AU, and it gained a life of its own.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which it is discovered that Yosuke Hanamura is very much Not Human. (Or hey, I wrote an Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon!Yosuke story crossed with whatisthisnonsense’s triplet AU, and it gained a life of its own.)

March 21, 1999

“Okay, let’s turn it on.”

_Uploading database…checking systems…systems at 100% functionality…online._

“Greetings, Yosuke. We’re just going to run some tests to check and make sure you’re fully functional, okay?”

“Uh…okay. What do you need me to do?”

“For now, just follow me.”

“Okay.” _Motor systems in use._

_Would you like to turn off system warnings except for emergencies and weapons/Evoker use?_

_System warnings off._

_***_

“Okay, so your preliminary results look good-all your specifications check out. Now we need to run a combat simulation. Please stand on the x there.”

_Weapons system online. Evoker online._

“…and there’s your first target. Please eliminate it using only your knives.”

_Deploying._

_Target eliminated._

“Very good, Yosuke. Please eliminate this next target using only your Persona.”

_Activating Evoker._

_“I…I’m dying?”_

_“Yes. Unfortunately, you have only a few months left to live…”_

_“No…NO!”_

“NO!”

_Persona summoned._

_Warning: speaker system damage imminent. Please cease use immediately._

_Warning: system components under heavy stress. Please cease use immediately._

_Warning: damage to surroundings approaching acceptable limits._

“SHUT HIM DOWN, NOW!”

_Systems shutting down._

April 2011

It’s grey for a while in April, something that makes Yosuke want to stay home and sleep until it goes away. Grey days just bring bad memories with them, memories of hospitals and dying and his parents saying, _“We’ve finished our grieving; we don’t want to have to start again later. We can’t take him back.”_

But he has to go to school, has to seem _normal_ despite his whirring joints and metal heart, so he drags himself out of bed and tugs on his uniform, then hops onto the yellow bike his new parents had gotten him _(he’d loved biking, even if he wasn’t very good at it, and this was one of the few things to make him smile nowadays)_ and bikes to school.

He manages to slam into a pole on the way, and when he gets to class, he finds that he’s broken Chie’s DVD. Not even the three transfer students can break his gloom, and he takes the hit to his non-existent nads as realistically as he can. It’s almost enough to make him stay in bed the next day, but normal is more important than his gloom, so he goes.

It’s not until he slams into trashcans and gets stuck in one that he actually meets the triplets, and he can’t decide whether to be thankful or embarrassed at first. But Kaguya’s question isn’t malicious, and Souji’s hands are gentle as he pulls lettuce out of his hair, and Yu grabs his bike without mocking, so gratitude wins out. Enough so that even when Chie invites herself to join into the thank-you party he throws, he does little more than grumble good-naturedly (though that does kind of kill his plans for steak).

And when Saki-sempai agrees to go to the show with him—however vaguely—he cant help but think that he might be able to achieve normal.

Then they fall into the TV, and he discovers that the triplets can do his job—the one he was designed to do—only without going berserk. And that is _fine,_ it _is,_ but at the same time, he can feel his hopes for normality slipping away along with his hopes for friends _(he couldn’t summon Howori, not again, not if it means getting shut down and left because he can’t be controlled, but if he can’t summon it, he can’t help, and people don’t want someone who is_ useless _as their friend)._ But so far, there’s no reason to go back in there, so he can pretend that there won’t ever _be_ a reason to go back. They can just live their lives as normal.

But then there’s a reason to go back in.

And it’s because Saki-sempai is dead.

He can’t really focus on anything else as he ties the rope around his waist with creaking fingers. His thoughts are a swirling mass of pain and grief and _why, why_ her, _she didn’t do anything_ wrong, _she was just_ there, _why why why why._ Only the fact that Kaguya and Souji and Yu are coming with him keeps him from breaking down, and even then it’s a near miss. He can still feel unshedable tears wanting to build in his eyes, and his fingers are clenched into fists as he forces himself through the TV frame.

They’re relatively quiet as they head through the streets of the twisted Inaba, something that makes Yosuke both grateful and uncomfortable. Grateful because he doesn’t have to try to explain how he’s feeling, and uncomfortable because everything feels tense in the quiet, both outside and inside. He’s glad he hasn’t eaten much today, to be honest, because even robot-stomachs get queasy, and he thinks the tension would probably tip him over the edge into actually sick.

The silence is broken as they reach the facsimile of Konishi Liquors, but he isn’t grateful for it. All the voices do is taunt and accuse, and he shouts at them to shut up before running into the shop, determined to find the source.

In hindsight, it probably would have been better to let the Narukamis go first. They could have warned him that he might not want to hear what was going on in there, and maybe that would have let him get away with a merely broken heart.

_Even the people you love hate you. Why do you even try?_ **_It’s just going to end in tears, anyway, just like everything else._** ”

The figure that steps from the shadows is him, but not him at all. The eyes are an eerie shade of gold, the mouth a mocking slash through its face, and its very presence makes him want to run and hide, because all of his sensors are screaming that _this thing is way out of your league, idiot!_ But he stands his ground and narrows his eyes, because like hell he’s going to take his own inner monologue from a fake. “Wha-where did you come from?”

The slash-smile becomes more mocking, and the figure takes a step forward. **_“What do you mean? Isn’t it obvious? I came from you. No, scratch that-I am you.”_**

“Wha-you’re joking. _I’m_ me!”

**_“Oh, should I prove it?”_** The figure reaches for the hem of his shirt, and Yosuke freezes in sudden terror. But the figure freezes too, then turns briefly-wide eyes on him. **_“Well, would you look at that. You’re so scared of it that I’m scared.”_** It releases its shirt, then slash-smiles again. **_“You’re so afraid of being alone. But you’re already alone, aren’t you? Even with all your new friends, you’re alone, and you’re always going to_ be _alone.”_**

“No-no, that’s not true! I-“

**_“Oh, it’s not?”_** It gives a mocking laugh, and Yosuke flinches. **_“Get real. Everyone’s alone. You’re just more alone then anyone else, and that’s never going to change.”_**

“NO. That’s not true! You don’t know me!”

**_“I do. I know everything about you. The parents who didn’t want you, the people who couldn’t use you. And I told you why, too—I am you.”_**

“No, you’re NOT!” His hands are creaking from how tightly they’re clenched, but his eyes are huge and halfway to panic as he yells ( _almost screams, but screaming will send his voice mechanical and he cant risk that,)_ “You’re NOT ME!”

The figure starts to laugh maniacally as a red-black aura surrounds it, and Yosuke staggers back as his sensors start screaming at him. **_“That’s RIGHT. I am me! I am the Shadow, the true self!”_** Yosuke hits the wall just as it disappears and ends up flat on his ass, staring at the giant fish-man- _thing_ that’s taken the place of the figure, and a very large part of him is certain that he said exactly the wrong thing. But there’s no time for that, because he’s got to at least _try_ to protect the Narukamis.

Of course, without a Persona, he’s just swatted across the field before he can do much more than glare. And then the Narukamis look like they’ve got things covered, so he just lays back and waits.

Kaguya, naturally, flies into a stream of curses as Mrtyu-mara rises behind her in a writhing mass of darkness and electricity. The way her teeth are bared show she isn't thinking of the Shadow's words-she’s focused on the ridiculous, monstrous thing before her.

Souji, meanwhile, rushes over to Yosuke's side, shouting his name in worry as Jiraiya appears in a flash of blue, leaning over and protecting and fussing, fussing, fussing, the healing magic coming to him naturally.

Yu...well, it's hard to say what Yu is thinking, behind that stoic mask. If he says anything, it was eaten up by the crackling of Izanagi and the sound of steel on Shadowy flesh.

The healing is nice, and the fussing eases some of the panic in Yosuke’s chest, but he’s still stuck staring at the _thing_ that the figure _(not him, not admitting it’s him)_ had become. He tries to speak, but his speaker crackles, and it takes him a moment to get his voice under control so he can ask the question he has to. “What….what is that thing?”

Teddie answers, but the words are lost in the howling and screaming of Persona and Shadow, and the poor bear proceeds to duck back into his hiding spot, shaking. It's not until Kaguya moves in front of him and he can skitter to grab her skirt and stay behind her that he tries again. Yosuke can’t help but flinch too when the Shadow starts howling, and he doesn’t blame Teddie for hiding-if there were anywhere for him to go, he would. But there’s not, so he just waits, then turns up his hearing as Teddie starts speaking again

"It's your Shadow, Yosuke! Ohhhh, this is bad! Bad bad bad!"

"Focus, Teddie,” the lady Narukami grunts as her Persona sends another wave of electricity forth. 

"S-sorry, it's just-- Shadows HATE being rejected a-and as long as Yosuke keeps denying it--!"

“…What?” His voice is weak and tremulous as he speaks, and his eyes have gone panic-wide again. “But…But I can’t…it’s not…” _Me._

_It is, idiot. And it’ll kill you if you don’t realize that_.

The Shadow roars and swats down Mrtyu-mara, causing Kaguya to flinch and Teddie to cry out in alarm. Izanagi goes to defend his sister's avatar, and Souji pulls the ginger in closer, Jiraiya throwing wind from its spot hovering above them.

Yosuke grits his teeth as Kaguya flinches, then leans into Souji for a moment. The wind seems to be more effective than anything else right now, and he can’t help a faint, odd swell of pride toward Souji before Yu’s gaze takes his, making him freeze again.

“Yosuke,” Yu rumbles.

“ _What?_ ” His voice crackles again, but this time its at least understandable, and the emotions behind the word come through loud and clear.

_I can’t. I can’t because if I do, you’ll leave again and then I’ll REALLY be alone and I can’t DO that any more._

Yu looks him square in the eye. “Yosuke," he rumbles again, like a disappointed father. "You know exactly what."

Yosuke can’t help but flinch away from Yu’s gaze. Yes, he knows, but he can’t do it, not with that look pinned on him. But Souji’s gaze has none of that disappointment as he plants a consoling hand on the top of the ginger's head. "It's okay,” he soothes, even as the wind blows around them. His eyes are soft, and gentle, almost saint-like. "It's okay,” he repeats, and lord almighty, he _means_ it. Yosuke can feel himself bolstering from it. Souji’s words are simple, but they’re what he needs right now, and he closes his eyes for a moment before murmuring, “Help me up?”

Souji nods, slipping his arms around one of Yosuke's, standing slowly and pulling him up with him.

Yosuke doesn’t really _need_ the help—his systems are in perfect working order, even with the panic and the stress—but the help makes him stand straighter, chin up and eyes forward. He claps Souji’s shoulder with a small half-smile, then walks toward the giant….whatever the hell it is. “Oy, fish-face! Chill out so we can talk!"

Of course, the Shadow just howls at him, but that doesn’t stop him from standing there, just behind Yu and Kaguya as he waits for it to actually talk.

The Shadow’s howl falls into a hiss, at the Narukamis, at the barrier of wind that was now approaching much closer and enveloping the group, even at the poor bear (who yelps and cowers behind Kaguya's legs), but it does not lash out further.

And the wind seems to be the final straw, because the Shadow’s form suddenly shrinks, falling from a fish-man wielding fishhooks to the—to _him_ , down on one knee and panting. Yosuke just stares for a moment, nerves almost failing him, then steps forward and extends a hand to pull his Shadow to his feet.

“I’m not going to lie—I hate what you have to say. But…I think that’s why I needed to hear it. …You’re right. You’re me. I’m sorry I ignored you.”

The Shadow blinks at hem then gives him a tiny smile, figure going transparent before vanishing entirely. In its place floats a familiar figure— _Howori—_ which vanishes too, leaving Yosuke with the knowledge that even when he’s alone, he doesn’t have to be _lonely._

He blinks, then sighs and turns to the Narukamis, not quite meeting their eyes. “…Sorry about that.”

Kaguya only grunts, wiping at one of the scratches on her cheek. Souji smiles wanly before turning his healing magic on his siblings, wounds gurgling as they re-seal. Teddie flits about at the Narukamis' feet, worried about the trio.

Only Yu stays still, staring at Yosuke with that unreadable expression of his.

Yosuke grimaces, looking down at his feet. He’d screwed up. He’d screwed up _big time_. But…he was going to be ok. _Alone doesn’t mean lonely. And you’ll still have Chie and Yukiko to be your friends._

“…I get it if you don’t want me to hang around you any more. I screwed up, and I nearly got you three killed. So…yeah. I’m sorry.”

Kaguya grunts again, no longer interested in words now that the battle was over. She does, however, reach down to plop a hand on Teddie's head to soothe the poor bear. 

Souji looks over his shoulder as he continues healing, a half smile pulling on his face in an attempt to make him look less concerned. It wasn't working. "Hey, we nearly got you and Chie killed last time, I think it's only fair, right?"

Yosuke manages a wan smile at Souji’s words, but it disappears immediately, leaving himmorose and strained. Yu’s silence and expression isn’t helping—it’s too expectant, too piercing, and for a long moment, he wants to just run.

But he owes them. If nothing else, he owes them an explanation of why his Shadow was so bitter and pessimistic and _scared._ So he sighs, then grips the hem of his shirt, looking up one last time. “…I can explain things, but first I need you guys to promise me that you won’t completely freak on me, okay?”

Yu raises a brow at the odd gesture, but his gaze stays locked, and he gives a short nod.

Kaguya lifts her head to look up, away from the bear at her legs. If her expression had been softer for a few seconds while settling Teddie, it's gone now. Her brow also raises, before giving an acknowledging twitch of the head. "Can't be any freakier than the disco fish,” she intones.

Souji, as usual, is the nice one, looking over his shoulder again as his hands retract and the healing magic fades. He doesn't say a word, but he does turn a bit further, looking concerned.

Yosuke manages a weird twitch of a smile at Kaguya’s words. “Not a lot freakier than a hook-wielding disco fish.” His voice is weak, tone shaking, so instead of trying to joke further, he just takes a deep breath, then tugs jacket and shirt off in one smooth motion.

His upper body looks fairly normal in the gloom—the only odd things are the deep indents at neck and waist so he can get his breastplate off if needed—so he sits down and unties his shoes so he can shuck his pants, too. With that done, its pretty obvious that he is _definitely_ not human, what with the fact that instead of any genitalia, he just has a smooth, rounded lump of foam to fill out his pants.

There's a very long pause from the Narukami siblings.

“...What," Yu states intelligently, obviously not expecting what he was seeing. Kaguya and Souji's expression mimic his in utter befuddlement.

And then Teddie speaks up.

"Is taking some sort of bonding thing you humans do?", he asks innocently, head tilting and ears twitching. "Ohhhhhh, so THAT'S why Yosuke tried to strip me earlier!"

"No," Kaguya states, correcting the bear before a terrible misunderstanding can occur. "No it is not."

“Oh god—no, no, Teddie, it’s not, I swear.” Yosuke’s expression goes from wary to half-panicked in a second as he looks at the bear. “No, this is just the best way for me to explain something.” With that, he looks back to the triplets, expression gone back to wary with a bit of pleading thrown in. “Guys? Anything? Please?”

Teddie still looks confused, but willingly lets the lady Narukami usher him behind her legs where it'll be harder to see, in hopes maybe it won’t stick so much in his head.

Yu raises a finger as if about to make a declaration.

Yosuke blinks at Teddie as he’s hidden, then raises his eyebrows at Yu. He knows that the other was reticent, but _geez_. “Yeees?”

"...Nope, still stuck on what." Yu lets his arm drop, completely straightfaced.

Yosuke sighs loudly through his nose, resisting the urge to drop his head into his hands. “Right. Could we add something to that what to make it a complete question?” Souji, for his part, rolls his eyes at his brother's sense of humor before hesitantly skittering up to Yosuke, blinking and studying him.

Souji’s presence makes him blink, but he holds up an arm slightly as a silent go-ahead to poke. He’d really rather not have to tell them outright—it’d feel less like breaking the rules if someone figured it out before he had to say, and if the Kirijo Group ever found out, he might be able to use that to avoid getting deactivated. ‘See, mister? They figured it out! I didn’t say anything!’

…Yeah, he was getting deactivated if Kirijo found out. Who was he kidding?

Souji doesn’t need to poke—he apparently believes his eyes well enough. He blinks at the arm, then blinks at Yosuke.

Then he’s being hugged.

…That is unexpected. Nice— _really_ nice, actually, since he didn’t actually get touched much and was slightly hypersensitive now (thank you more sensors than humans had nerves, he swears)—but unexpected. Still, he does his best to go with it, gently patting Souji on the back before glancing around at the others. “Anyone else?”

Kaguya looks at Yu. Yu looks at Kaguya. They both shrug, but before one could take a step, there is suddenly a bear tackleglomming onto the two already hugging. Souji yelps as he and Yosuke are taken down by the exuberant plush toy. For a split second, the lady Narukami almost looks amused and—lord, is that a smile on her face? 

In the next instant she is over at their side, helping everyone sit back up before indulging in hugs herself. Yu follows suit, giving Yosuke a consoling thump on the back as he settles in.

Yosuke is very glad he is wearing his aluminum breastplate and not his carbon-fiber one right now—falling with Souji’s weight on top of him like that would have definitely cracked the expensive material, and it took _forever_ to repair. As it is, he just clangs as he lands, then sits up with a wince and Kaguya’s help and gently pats Teddie’s head.

The added hugs make Yosuke sigh, then close his eyes, leaning on Souji briefly before smiling at the gentle thump. “So…yeah, sorry I nearly got you guys killed, and sorry I didn’t mention I’m not exactly human.”

There is a general consensus among the Narukami's of "Don't Worry About It Man" in various tones and words, which makes Yosuke sigh “It’s not like I don’t appreciate it, but not telling you guys is seriously half the reason you nearly died.”

Souji pipes up. "Again; kind of nearly got you and Chie killed earlier. And I mean..." The nicer Narukami sits back and gestures. "How _do_ you explain that under normal circumstances, huh?" The smile he gives is lopsided and understanding, and Yosuke can’t help but smile back.

"He could always do the robot,” Kaguya deadpans. She is met with a light kick in the shin by Souji, which only really got him a grunt of acknowledgement that _yes, that is your foot hitting my leg._

There’s a moment of utter silence from Yosuke as he stares at Kaguya unsure if he actually just heard her joke or not. Then he snorts softly, shaking his head. “I’m pretty sure that would have just made you guys think I was a freak, not that I was a robot.”

And after a moment, he realizes saying those words actually feels pretty good. _I’m a robot, and that’s ok._

_Even if I’m alone, I’m not lonely._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has been re-edited!


	2. Grenade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Or Yosuke, Please Work on Self-Preservation When It Involves Saving People.  
> Once again, help was given by whatisthisnonsense.

March 22, 1999

_Sound detected. Audio systems on._

“So, basically, he’s useless.”

“Not exactly. He can still function as a forward scout—all of his sensors are in working order, and his movement speed exceeded our expectations.”

“He can’t use his Evoker, though, correct?”

“No, but—“

“He’s useless. Without a Persona, he’ll only be a hindrance to a team. Just leave him off. It’ll be kinder.”

_No sound detected for two minutes. Audio systems shutting off._

_File saved._

April 2011

Yosuke’s got himself a team now. It’s not a _big_ team—just him and the Narukamis-but it’s a team, and it has a purpose.

Find the killer. Catch the killer. See that he’s arrested.

He had a goal now, and friends to help him with it. The only thing standing in their way is a lack of clues, but that’ll solve itself, he thinks, so long as they keep their eyes open.

He’s right, after a fashion. They get their first clue not long after they get back from the TV world, and it’s a pretty big one.

To be exact, it’s Yukiko, because she’s now in the TV World, going on a ‘stud hunt.’ To be honest, he’s a little terrified, both because _that can’t be good_ and because he has never been very close to Yukiko, so she kind of scares him for reasons he still doesn’t get. But she’s Chie’s friend, so he’s worried too, and when she wants to go into the TV World to rescue her, he’s right behind her. He’ll worry about explaining his robotness later.

As they head into the TV world, golf clubs and trashcan lids and fists and feet at the ready (and Yosuke with his knives up his sleeves, though he’s not sure he’s actually more dangerous with them than Kaguya or Yu with their improvised weapons), he takes a moment to look around. Chie is hopping from foot to foot, occasionally pausing to stretch as she mutters about kicking anyone who hurt Yukiko from here to the moon. Kaguya is silent, but her narrow-eyed glare at Chie is making Yosuke nervous for Chie’s bodily safety, Yu’s face is flat and grim in a way that makes Yosuke wonder if they’re actually going to be able to get to Yukiko, and Souji is doing his best to not appear visibly worried and failing. Yosuke blinks at that, then steps forward and gently claps Souji shoulder. “Don’t worry. We’ll get her back.”

Anything else he would have said is lost as Teddie appears, and he doesn’t even get to look to see if the worry disappeared, because they’re on to where Yukiko is right now.

It’s a castle. A huge, medieval-looking castle that kind of just adds to the intimidation factor. To take some of the edge off, he absent-mindedly sets his MP3 to play through his external speakers, and the next minute is spent blinking at Kaguya’s glare until he realizes _that’s the explicit version, you dolt,_ and shifts it to something a lot less rude. He thinks it’s something from a game, but before he can check, his processor is screaming at him about Shadows and he looks up, knives sliding from his sleeves to rest in his palms.

For a moment, he’s staring non-plussed, because that’s not a Shadow, that’s just Yukiko. Then he actually pays attention to what he’s seeing and realizes that it’s the Yukiko they saw on the TV, dressed in a Western-style princess dress and holding a microphone. Most of what she said kind of went in one ear and out the other, as he was too busy with _what_ and _why_ and _someone please cover Teddie’s eyes_ , but he does catch the fact that she’s looking for a Prince to take her away. Before he can ask why, though, she’s running off, and Chie is following, and he is _really_ tempted to start swearing at the top of his voice as they chase her.

While his distance Shadow detection systems seem to be more or less off-line, his human detection systems are very much not. He can sense Chie ahead of and above them, and he allows himself to focus in on that, only coming up to help kill the Shadows they run into. His knives are more than enough for that when combined with the Narukamis’ abilities, so they really don’t face much opposition until they reach Chie.

Fortunately, Teddie had at least warned them about the Shadow on the way there, so they aren’t totally caught out by the golden-eyed version of their friend. Its words are just as harsh and mocking as those of Yosuke’s had been, and he isn’t at all surprised when she starts screaming at it. He’s not _pleased,_ since he really doesn’t want to have to fight a boss-Shadow right now, but he’s not surprised.

As he switches the music that was playing to something more suited to a boss battle, an unexpected voice starts talking to him. It takes a lot of concentration to not freak out, because that was his _Shadow._

When he has gotten himself under control enough to actually listen, he realizes that it isn’t quite his Shadow—the creepy voice doubling is still there, sure, but it sounds a lot less like it wants to drive him insane and more like it wants to help him.

**_“I’m thinking we should probably go with a quick Sukukaja on both Yu and Kaguya before we really get started. You’ve got the energy, and Souji needs to save his for healing. After that, hammer it with Agi—can’t hurt.”_**

_“Uh…right.”_ Yosuke starts doing that, then asks, _“Also, just checking—you’re Howori, right? Not some random Shadow deciding to invade my brain?”_

The voice chuckles. **_“Yes, I’m Howori. Now focus—you’ve still got a lot of systems off line, so you can’t autopilot. Not that you should against something like this, but whatever.”_**

Yosuke gives a sharp nod, then turns his attention back to the battle just in time to see Kaguya get clipped by the whip the Shadow is wielding. He grimaces, then throws himself into the fight with renewed vigor, Howori hammering it with Agi when he’s not stabbing it or casting more Sukukajas on the others. Between them all, they get it down surprisingly quickly, and get Chie out and ready to regroup for tomorrow.

Still, Yosuke can’t shake the sight of Kaguya getting hit, and he promises himself that he _will_ keep a better eye on their leaders

*

His plan gets tested tomorrow when they push ahead a bit too far and end up against a Shadow that he can’t help but call a mini-boss. It’s big and armored and hits like a truck, and the fact that it keeps casting Power Charge to make itself hit _harder_ makes him want to call for a retreat. But they can’t afford to, so he just keeps casting Sukukaja and Agi and hopes that they take it down before it takes them down.

They’ve almost got it, he thinks, when it clips Kaguya with an attack and warnings start screaming at him that one more like that will kill her. His focus immediately switches to the Shadow, and he can tell that it’s going to go for her next, to finish off the weakened member of the group before it moves on.

He analyzes his options as fast as he can, and quickly comes to the conclusion that he really only has one choice. There’s no time to second guess it, either, so he dives forward and takes the hit for her.

The spear tears through his stomach, then flings him into a wall. A dozen warnings go off, about coolant levels and busted supports and _you need to heal now or you’re going to shut off._ But he has no healing spells of his own, and he’s really lost too much coolant anyway for anything below a Diarahan to get him on his feet. So he sighs, then closes his eyes, waiting for his automatic shut-off to kick in.

Under normal circumstances, he would be carted out once the battle was over and repaired once they got back on site. But he is too heavy for this team to carry that far, and they didn’t have the resources to fix him back home anyway. So he’s just going to have to watch the count down of his coolant until he shuts off, and he’s okay with that. Even if it means that he’s going to get left here, because at least _someone_ survived.

He’s just about to shut off when a Revival Bead that he didn’t even know they had is cracked over him, restoring his coolant levels to something approaching normal and mostly closing the gash in his stomach. He just lays there for a moment, making sure his body is properlyworking, then slowly sits up and looks around.

He’s immediately tackled by a half-sobbing Chie, and he awkwardly pats her on the back before looking up at the Narukamis.

Yu is standing, _looming,_ but his eyes are wide, the fragments of the Revival Bead still in his hand. He's pale, lips pressed thinly against each other. It would figure the first real expression anyone would ever see on his face was worry and fear.

Souji's expression is hard to discern, by virtue of the fact he also buries into Yosuke's side in a hug. His cries aren't loud, but Jiraiya flares to life, as does the healing magic, seeping into every gear and circuit of Yosuke's body as best it can.

Kaguya is kneeling nearby, hesitant. Like Yu, her eyes are wide and her face is pale, making the dark circles under her eyes stand out all the further. Her hand is on Teddie's head, fingers tangled in his fur, in equal parts comforting the snuffling, distressed plush toy and keeping him from squeezing Yosuke until she was sure Souji was done healing him. She opens her mouth, faintly, before closing it again, any words she has failing her.

Yosuke just stares at the two, one hand gently patting Chie and the other rubbing Souji’s back. The expressions on their faces scare him, mainly because they _are_ expressions. Part of him feels sick at the fact that _he_ caused those, but the rest of him is either bathing in the healing magic or checking to make sure no-one is bleeding out. When he’s satisfied, he looks at Kaguya, expression gentle. “You ok, Boss?”

Kaguya opens her mouth again. “I—" But that's all she can manage before she chokes on her own breath and closes her mouth again. She nods in the affirmative, hesitantly, before glancing at the wibbly bear her hand is resting on. Her eyes dart between him and Yosuke before she slowly uncurls her fingers and lifts her hand away, allowing Teddie to scramble forth and join the hug.

Yosuke is smiling at Kaguya, genuine relief and a desire to reassure making it brighter than he intends. Then he’s being nearly knocked over by Teddie, and only strong robot abs and quick reflexes keep him from falling flat on his back.

"WAAAAAAAAAH, YOSUKE—!“ The bear sobs, burying his fluffy head into Yosuke's chest. "I THOUGHT YOU— WE THOUGHT YOU—WAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Sadly, it is the most coherent sentence so far from anyone that wasn’t Yosuke, and the thought makes him sigh before looking up as something moves.

Yu lets the fragments of the bead drop from his hand and turns around to look at the chamber, as if making sure nothing else would jump out at everyone before kneeling next to the giant pile of hugs. He gives Yosuke a look that is unreadable, not for the lack of emotion, but from too many, then plants a hand on the ginger's head.

"Don't..." he whispers, soft enough to hide the shake in his voice from all but the most attentive, "...Don't ever scare us like that again."

Yosuke looks at Yu with unconcealed shock. Then he sighs and closes his eyes, biting the inside of his lip before finally speaking. “…I’ll try. I can’t promise I won’t, but I’ll try.”

Yu is silent for a moment. Then Yosuke gets a sense of ‘that’s close enough,’ and a hand ruffles his hair.

The hair ruffle gets Yosuke. to open his eyes, and he blinks up at Yu before looking over at Kaguya. She’s moving like she’s about to touch the most fragile glass sculpture in existence, and he cant help a small reassuring smile at that. When she finally nestles in, he gently rests his forehead on her head and murmurs, “I’m ok, and _you’re_ ok. We’re all going to get out of here fine. Promise.”

He’s right, too—they make it out without so much as a paper cut, and he walks with the Narukamis as far as he can before he has to turn for his house. And later, when he’s laying in bed after texting everyone that _yes, he’s fine, and they are too,_ he can’t help a small smile.

_They’re fine. I helped._

_We’re good._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has been re-edited!


	3. The Dinner Time Song

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Or In Which The Author Attempts An Actual Song Reference, And The Chapter Is Exactly What It Says On The Tin  
> As always, with help from whatisthisnonsense

April 2011

They get to Yukiko the third day they go into the TV, and surprisingly, it goes pretty well. Yosuke isn’t much help offensively, but his resistance to Agi lets him stand up to the worst attacks and keep casting Sukukaja on everyone and between that and Kaguya’s new bat and wrench (no more stealing Souji’s trash can lid, and seriously, they need to do something about that, because that is an awful weapon) they get the Shadow down and Yukiko talking to it without anyone needing revived. To be honest, he’s rather proud of them all, and he thinks it shows on his face a bit.

The next day is Saturday, and since that’s his day off, he decides to share some of that pride with an invitation to Junes. Chie’s going to check on Yukiko, so she can’t come, but the Narukamis seem free, so he tries to be not-completely-eager as he asks them if they want to come to Junes with him. Kaguya just stares at him, but Souji seems eager and Yu agrees in his calm way, so he leads the way there with a bounce in his step and a smile on his face.  
It doesn’t take them all that long to get to the food court, and once there, he asks them what they want.

"Vanilla Coke and some chicken teriyaki", Kaguya mutters, settling into her chair with a flump.

"I'm not hungry," Yu gently calls, sitting down with easy motions and crossing his legs. "Could go for a root beer Ramune, though."

"Lemonade and some veggie tempura, if that's okay", Souji replies, looking at Yosuke before taking his seat. "I-I mean, it's not all gonna be too much, is it? I'd hate to think we'd nearly get you killed and then empty your wallet." There's an apologetic, concerned twitch to his smile and his siblings flinch because, _duh, why didn't we think of that._

“Vanilla Coke and chicken teriyaki, root beer Ramune, and lemonade and veggie tempura. Got it.” He fishes out his wallet, then blinks at Souji before chuckling softly. “Nah, you guys are fine. It’s not beefsteak, and I’m not eating, so hey, you might even get dessert.” With that, he went and placed their orders, then called, “If one of you could come help with the drinks, though, that’d be great."

"Oh--!" And with that, Souji pushes his (hesitantly pulled out) chair back in and skitters over.

That just gets another chuckle out of Yosuke, and he gently pats Souji’s arm. “Thanks. Just grab what you can-I can get the rest, no problem."

As it turns out, the only limit to what Souji can carry is his arm space--when he lifts the rather-loaded tray, he doesn’t seem all that bothered by the weight. He gives a small frown to the other, less weighted tray like he’s trying to figure out a way to carry that too before he sighs and ambles back to the table. Yosuke blinks after Souji-he’d just expected him to grab the drinks-then belatedly takes the tray with Souji’s tempura and drink on it over. “Thanks, dude. Here’s yours.” He plops down in his seat, then grins at the triplets. “Go on ahead-like I said, I’m not eating.”

Souji smiles in thanks as Yosuke hands his food to him. Kaguya, meanwhile, is clearly restraining herself until a "time to eat" has passed her siblings' mouths. Then she digs in, with all the fervor of two Chies and without any of the mess, getting a slightly frightened look out of Yosuke. Souji shakes his head at his sister and takes a sip of his drink first instead, whereas Yu calmly opens his own drink and gives Yosuke a questioning look, getting Yosuke’s attention before he can stick his foot in his mouth.

"Not hungry either?"

That isn't the actual question, of course, but Yu obviously won't ask the real one in public: _Can’t eat?_

Frowning slightly, Yosuke glances around, then shakes his head, voice dropping a bit. “Nah, just don’t need to. Besides, everything tastes kind of weird unless I dump a ton of metal on it, so I try not to eat much in public."

Yu gives a short nod before taking a sip of his drink. Kaguya pauses for a moment, eyes darting around to make _sure_ no one had caught that comment from the ginger, then returns to her meal with fervor.

Yosuke just shrugs at Kaguya--if someone hears, then they hear--then blinks at Souji as he notices the other staring at his ‘headphones,’ tempura in his mouth as if to prevent himself from speaking. Yosuke’s hand drifts to his ‘headphones,’ and he can’t help cocking his head. “You want to ask something? We’re ok; no-one’s paying attention to us, promise.”

"Mm." Souji glances away for a second, chewing up his tempura, then looks at the "headphones" again, now chewing the inside of his lip. "It's just...", he finally begins, quietly, "They look more like they're welded to the rest of you than actual headphones. Are they, well..." _Part of you?_

Yosuke’s been wondering when one of them would ask--it was a bit odd to wear headphones all the time, after all. He nods, then leans forward so Souji can see better. “Yeah, they’re non-removable. We had to tell the school I have super-sensitive hearing and I need these to function, but they’re not actually headphones.” He pauses, then continues in a softer voice, “I…I’m not sure I can tell you what they are, but that’s more of a ‘really top secret’ thing.” That, and he isn’t sure he is ready to explain the whole, ‘Well, I _could_ have helped out our first trip into the TV world but that would have required me to go totally berserk and you guys really didn’t need to see that’ thing.

"Careful", Kaguya comments between bites as Yosuke leans forward. "You might not get your head back." Souji shoots her a dirty look before he leans forward himself, studying the welding closely, eyes glittering briefly before he manages to make himself sit back. Kaguya pauses again between bites to mouth "engineering and mech geek" at Yosuke while Yu frowns, processing the rest of Yosuke's words.

"Top secret?”

“I’m not from Tekken. My head doesn’t come off. Besides, I trust Souji. He’s my Partner.” He grins at the mech geek (that might be useful in the future if he got busted up) then nodded at Yu, expression suddenly serious as he sits back.  
“Yeah.” He grimaces. “To be honest, my entire existence is kind of top-secret, but this is _really_ secret. You’re probably safer not knowing.”

Kaguya takes an even _longer_  pause to raise her brows at the Partner comment, but seeing Souji's brief, bright smile caused by the remark makes her stow away the comment she is about to make. Instead, she asks "So what can you tell us that _isn’t_ safer as an unknown?”

Yosuke raises his eyebrows at her right back, then pauses to think. “…Well, for a start, I kinda knew about Shadows before we entered the TV world. I’m designed to fight them.”

There is a very long pause before he gets irritated-looking squints in triplicate. Obviously, the trio would've appreciated a warning beforehand.  
The squints make Yosuke duck his head and scratch his neck. “I’m sorry, I swear, but I couldn’t really tell you. I was assuming we’d just get out and forget about it.”

That excuse does not stop the squinting. If anything, it just gets him more of it.  
"Because we can forget about falling through a TV and then running for our lives from blob monsters", Kaguya deadpans.

“Well, ignore. I didn’t think it was going to snowball like this.” He sighs, hand stilling on the back of his neck. “Like I said, sorry."

"Mm." Souji stops his Judging You expression first, fading into a small frown. "Well. I guess it can't be helped now. Right, guys?" He looks between his siblings. “… _right_ , guys?"

Yu sighs and relents, reaching for his drink and taking a sip. Kaguya, however, still scowls.

"Sis."

She glances at Souji's expression and grimaces at the unintentional puppy-eyes she finds there before relenting herself, huffing a grumpy, "Oh, _fine_. Just tell us next time there's a deadly thing you know about that we don't." With that, she returns to her food and her fevered feasting like nothing ever happened.

“I will, promise. Can’t think of anything right now, but when I do, I will.” Yosuke gives Souji a small, thankful smile, then leans back in his chair, eyebrows raised. “But yeah, I’m designed to fight them. I wasn’t any good at it, though, so they sent me out here to live."

A shared glance goes between the siblings. "They?" Yu ventures.

“The guys who made me.” No names, because names might lead to searching and searching might bring the Kirijo Group down on their heads, and _he really wants his friends in one piece and here, thanks_. “They figured I deserved a chance to be a normal teen if I couldn’t do what I was designed to do.” He shrugs, trying not to let the sudden uselessness that he is feeling show on his face. “I mean, it’s not exciting out here, but at least no-one will recognize me.”

Another glance goes between the siblings, and they seem to decide to drop the subject of Who Made You. 

"So", Yu starts again, "is there anyone in the area who can do maintenance on you? It'd seem like a bad plan if they sent you out here without anyone able to repair you like--"

"Like from a gut wound", Souji finishes quietly.

"Or from crashing like Windows Vista", Kaguya adds dryly. Souji shoots her a look.

_"Sis."_

Yosuke isn’t paying much attention to their exchange-Souji’s first comment had made him grimace, and he can’t help but hunch his shoulders. “My auto-repair can handle most things, and if I get really busted, they’ll send someone out. It’s not like being off will hurt me the same way as being in a coma hurts the human body, and my personality can’t be wiped by a crash.”

Yu frowns ever so slightly, then takes a short sip of his drink. "Still seems unwise. Could they even get a signal from the other side…?"

“Dunno, but here…my parents would tell them.” That gets another grimace-they weren’t really his parents, and even though he knows they care about him, there was always the reminder that they had really only taken him because his real parents wanted nothing to do with him.

"Let Souji do it", Kaguya deadpans again, this time gaining a very _different_ look from her more emotional brother and making Yosuke look up, potential brooding cut short.

_“Sis!”_

"Oh don't give me that, that's what it was going to work around to eventually. No point pussy-footing the matter." The lady Narukami snorts and munches on her last bit of teriyaki, ignoring Souji sinking his head into his hands.

"Ignore her, she's insane", Souji muttered embarrassedly. Yu's expression doesn’t change, but his eyes light up.

"Actually, I think that it's a great idea. It's not the same as the cars and bikes you usually work on, but it's better than nothing." He ignores Souji's following reaction of jerking his head up to stare at him in a mix of betrayal and even _more_ embarrassment, and Yosuke tries to mitigate that with a curious look.

“…You think you could? It’d actually be a big help-my auto-repair can’t get everything, and if we’re going to be in the TV World, I’d feel a lot better knowing someone could patch me up if I throw a gear. Magic only goes so far, after all."

Souji proceeds to look much like a deer in the headlights. "I-I, uh--!" He looks down, fiddling with his fingers and scuffing his feet. "W-well, I could try..."

"He can do it.” Kaguya nods to herself, sipping at her drink at last and once again ignoring the look shot at her by her brother.

“If you can’t or don’t want to, no big deal.” Yosuke gives Souji a gentle, reassuring smile, then reaches across to pat him on the shoulder. “How about I let you know when I need something and we go from there?”

Souji bites his lip and then nodded, slowly, giving a faint smile. “O-okay."

“Cool.” Yosuke sits back, then glances around. “So, any other questions?”  
"Yeah, how much did this all cost?" Kaguya asks before pausing and squinting at the sign. "Oh wait--" She mouths along the math before reaching into her jacket to fish out her wallet.

Yu beats her to it. Before Yosuke can blink, there is a perfect amount of yen sitting in front of him and a very calmly drink-sipping Yu Narukami acting like nothing happened. Kaguya just snorts at him and retracts her hand from her jacket.

"Show off."

“That-“ Yosuke stares at the pile of yen, then gently pushes it back at Yu. “Not that I don’t appreciate it, but it was my treat. Thanks, though.”

Yu shakes his head, pushing it back. "Keep it. I think you've done enough for us without some payback. It's not exactly as much as we owe you--" Yu glances at his sister, who returns a solemn look, matching Souji's somber frown, "--but it's a start."

“Ok, seriously, you are not allowed to pay me for saving your guys’ lives. Not like it’s going to be a regularly needed thing, but we’re a _team_. …More than that-we’re _friends._ Right?” There is a bit of uncertainty in that last statement and he glances among the triplets with a worried look of his own. _Please let me be right on this._

The siblings glance at each other. Then Yu says, ”Of course we are,” making Yosuke relax and sigh.The Narukami reaches over and ruffles Yosuke's hair, expression almost soft. "I'm not paying you for saving our lives. I'm paying you because you nearly lost _yours,_  and I'm going to spoil you rotten over it."

"...Because that doesn't sound like a reason to start nearly dying", Kaguya deadpans before dropping her voice to a mocking deep tone. "'Get yourself nearly killed, get free lunches and clothes for the rest of eternity'!"

She ignores the kick her shin received.

Ok. Ok, he was good. Yosuke took another moment to relax, then presses the yen back into Yu’s hand with a crooked smirk. “You want to repay me? Go get some mochi for us-that’ll work for now.” Kaguya’s comment gets her raised eyebrows again, followed by a snort. “Nah, there are easier ways to do that than dying-trust me.”

Yu sighs, but a small smile flitters across his face. "Fine. Mochi it is.”

_> You spent a long time with the Narukami siblings.  
>You fell asleep easily for the first time in a while._


	4. (It Ain’t No Lie) Bye Bye Bye

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Or In Which Yosuke Overreacts And Souji Threatens to Replace His Music.  
> As always, help from whatisthisnonsense.

  
April 2011

Yosuke is seriously beginning to think that bikes hate him. He is pretty sure that he’s doing everything right when he gets on, but invariably, something goes wrong, leaving him either embarrassed or injured.

Right now, it’s the latter. He had hit the curb of the sidewalk just outside of school in the exact wrong way, sending him catapulting onto the sidewalk. As he had fallen, his shoe had gotten caught on the bike, and his knee had been twisted in such a way as to apparently pop a gear out of place. The end result? He’s laying on the ground with a dislocated gear and his auto-repair warning him that he can’t fix it on his own.

He groans loudly, then fishes in his pocket for his phone. When he discovers it is completely out of battery, he lets his head thunk against the pavement, ignoring the warning that sends up, because now he’s stuck limping home with bike in tow.

Or maybe not. He sits up on his elbows as he realizes today is basketball practice, meaning that Souji’s still at school. And he’s close enough that he can safely limp there without completely destroying his leg, so it’s really his best option at the moment.

With that in mind, he levers himself to his feet, then limps toward the school, leaving his bike on the sidewalk for now. If someone steals it, he might thank them-after roughly a crash a week, it’s a miracle the bike still works.

When he gets to school, the basketball team is milling about the shoe lockers. Questioning one of them (he thinks the kid’s name is Kou, but he’s not sure and honestly he doesn't care all that much) gets him the information that Souji is on the roof, and he thanks Kou before stiffly working his way up the stairs. On the roof, he finds Souji talking with a girl who he only recognizes as Ai Ebihara when his non-visual sensors kick in to tell him. He blinks, then leans against the wall next to the door, waiting for them to get done talking-

-Or kissing, apparently. Yup, that was kissing and Yosuke is now leaving because he is not sure he wants to watch his Partner make out with a girl the robot only barely knows. Or any girl, for that matter-that would just be awkward.

Yeah, awkward. Just that. Not frustrating. Especially not because he’s your partner and should tell you things like _Hey, I’ve got a girlfriend!_  He don’t want to know stuff like that-it’s not like it’d be _important_  to him or anything.

Thoughts like that chase Yosuke all the way home, no matter how many times he tells himself that he is overreacting and overthinking this. Souji is allowed to have a girlfriend, and he’s allowed to not mention her to Yosuke. That is none of his business, and no matter how much those thoughts say it is, it’s going to remain that way. He has to accept that, but his mind keeps wondering _why_. Was he just not good enough to be that close to him? Did the Narukamis just tolerate him because he could help them in the TV world?

_Why?_

By the time he gets up to his room, Yosuke’s convinced himself that they’re only keeping him around because he’s useful. He’d be crying if he weren’t a robot, but since he can’t, he flops down on his futon and begins digging at the seam that marks his knee-plate. _I don’t need Souji. I’m fine on my own!_

He can see the loose gear pretty easily-the teeth are poking through a couple of wires and threatening to shred them. A little closer poking reveals that it’s been tilted slightly and is now wedged between the two it couples with. A small smile crosses Yosuke’s face-that’s an easy enough fix; he just has to reseat it.

Fifteen minutes later, the smile’s been replaced by a frustrated snarl as he presses a pillow to his face. True, he just had to reseat it, but he’s at an awkward angle, and every time he tries, he can feel the teeth threatening to break. He can’t do it on his own.

A long, loud sigh rasps from his nose, and he slowly pulls the pillow off of his face as realization strikes. He’s been an idiot. A colossal idiot. A _monumental_ idiot. Why would the Narukamis keep him around if they _didn’t_ like him? Kaguya especially-she’s not much of one for tolerance of irritation. And if Souji had a secret girlfriend, that was his business. Yosuke should be happy for him, not mad!

…That last bit is going to take some working on, but he could think about that later. Right now, he needs to get some help, and Souji is kind of his only option that didn’t involve bringing in a Kirijo Group mechanic.

[text to: Partner] Hey, Souji, you free? I need some help.

[text to: Yosuke] Yeah? Are you okay?

[text to: Partner] Uh, kind of? I dislocated a gear in my knee, and I can’t fix it on my own.

[text to: Yosuke] Oh my GOD.

[text to: Yosuke] What happened, how did you

[text to: Yosuke] I'll be right there don't move that leg oh my god-

Yosuke can’t help a small sigh at the panic he was getting. It was nice to be worried about, but it was also a bit annoying-he was _fine_. Mostly.

[text to: Partner] Dude, chill! I’m at home-I just crashed my bike and twisted my leg. Just come by and say you’re here to study-if you’re panicked, mom and dad’ll get suspicious.

[text to: Yosuke] Studying right

[text to: Yosuke] Oh my god have you been waking on it all day Yosuke why didn't you text me earlier oh god-

[text to: Partner] Just since after school. …I thought you were busy with Ai, so I tried to fix it on my own.

[text to: Yosuke] Ai?

[text to: Yosuke] No I just talked to her on the roof for a while, we're not dating anymore

[text to: Yosuke] Yosuke that is way too long TEXT ME WHEN THIS SORT OF THING HAPPENS

[text to: Partner] …When I saw you on the roof, you were kissing Ai, so I thought you were busy. And seriously, dude, I’m mostly ok. Unlike humans, I can wait more or less indefinitely for repairs.

[text to: Yosuke] Kissing?

[text to: Yosuke] We weren't

[text to: Yosuke] WAIT YOU CLIMBED UP THE STAIRS WITH A BUSTED LEG WHAT THE HECK YOSUKE

Yosuke blinks. _They…weren’t? But…_

[text to: Partner] Er…her face was pressed against yours. That’s kissing.

[text to: Partner] DUDE I’M FINE. CHIIIILLLL.

[text to: Yosuke] No it wasn't but that's not the issue WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT

[text to: Yosuke] JUST

[text to: Yosuke] NO MORE WEIGHT ON IT UNTIL I GET THERE

[text to: Yosuke] AND NO MORE SILLY ASSUMPTIONS-

[text to: Partner] I was trying to find you and my phone was dead. And I’m sitting down in my room, promise.

[text to: Partner] And it wasn’t a silly assumption!

[text to: Yosuke] CHARGE YOUR PHONE MORE YOU-- GAH

[text to: Yosuke] Ai and I were not kissing, I was propping her up. She was out of breath because of

[text to: Yosuke] A thing

[text to: Yosuke] That happened

[text to: Yosuke] A really bad thing.

[text to: Yosuke] Like I said, we're not dating anymore, and frankly I was mostly just there to get the boy she actually likes jealous; I don't like her like that and vice versa.

Well, now Yosuke kind of wants to hide for a while. He really could have sworn they were kissing, but now that he looks back, he could see her just leaning on him. And if something bad had happened, Souji was one of the best people to help her.

[text to: Partner] I LEFT AN APP RUNNING.

[text to: Partner] …well, I feel even stupider now. She ok?

[text to: Yosuke] DON'T DO THAT WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT

[text to: Yosuke] She is now, yes. Thank goodness.

[text to: Partner] BECAUSE CLASS STARTED BEFORE I COULD SHUT IT OFF.

[text to: Partner] Good to hear.

[text to: Yosuke] I HOPE IT WAS A VERY IMPORTANT APP BUSTER

[text to: Yosuke] Yeah. She also says she's sorry for being mean to everybody.

[text to: Yosuke] We had a long talk. Explained some stuff. She'll calm down now.

[text to: Partner] NOT REALLY

[text to: Partner] Again, good to hear.

[text to: Yosuke] YOSUKE SO HELP ME I'M GOING TO REPLACE YOUR MUSIC STORAGE WITH THE SAILOR MOON THEME SONG

[text to: Yosuke] Mm-hm.

Despite his desire to hide, he can’t help a smile at Souji’s threat. Here was proof that he’d definitely been overreacting-Souji was his friend, and friends didn’t stop being friends just because one of them was (fake) dating someone else.

[text to: Partner] HOW’RE YOU GOING TO DO THAT? YOU’RE A MECHANIC NOT A HACKER.

[text to: Partner] And my room’s the first one on the left up the stairs, by the way.

[text to: Yosuke] YOU RUN ON WINDOWS IT'S NOT THAT HARD

[text to: Yosuke] Thank you.

[text to: Partner] I DO NOT TOTALLY RUN ON WINDOWS.

[text to: Partner] Just mostly.

[text to: Yosuke] IT'S VISTA. YOU RUN ON VISTA, YOSUKE.

[text to: Partner] IT’S MODIFIED.

[text to: Yosuke] IT'S STILL VISTA.

[text to: Yosuke] ...Also if your Shadow returns and does nothing but the Windows Crash Noise, so help me--

[text to: Partner.] WHATEVER. YOU’RE STILL NOT A HACKER.

[text to: Partner] And if my Shadow returns, we’ve got bigger issues.

[text to: Yosuke] IT'S VISTA, YOU DON'T HAVE TO. IT COMES PRE-HACKED.

[text to: Yosuke] Yes. Like finding a good IT guy.

[text to: Partner] -just sighs at everything-

[text to: Yosuke] Don't sigh at me over text. At least wait until I'm there to sigh at my bad jokes.

[text to: Yosuke] You're not putting any weight on you leg, right?

[text to: Yosuke] I really am going to do something drastic if I find out you've been putting any more stress on it.

[text to: Yosuke] Like. Modify your leg swing a bit to give you a hip swing.

[text to: Yosuke] More of a hip swing, rather.

[text to: Partner] I will sigh at you all I want.

[text to: Partner] I am sitting down, on my bed. And my hip swing is not that noticeable.

He isn’t denying he _has_  hip swing-he’s not stupid after all. Besides, he has a feeling it’s there because the other ASSWs are female and Ikutski didn’t really know how to not put in hip swing and he’s going to stop thinking about that now because that’s leading down roads he doesn’t want to consider.

[text to: Yosuke] It will be if I find out you did anything else dumb.

[text to: Partner] I haven’t, promise.

[text to: Yosuke] Good. Almost there.

[text to: Partner] Ok. like I said, in my room.

Souji’s hands are deft and gentle, and it’s no time at all before the gear’s in place. Before Souji leaves, though, Yosuke grabs his hand, intending to apologize for his mistrust. But when he looks up, all he gets out is, “Thanks, man.”

Souji blinks. For a moment, Yosuke thinks he’s blushing, but when he smiles, there’s no unusual color there at all. ”You’re welcome.”

And that’s enough to make Yosuke grin in return, squeezing his hand before letting him go.

They’re good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is being worked on; I hope to have it done before finals.


	5. If You Were Gay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Or In Which Yosuke Nearly Dies
> 
> As always, help from whatisthis nonsense

November 10, 2010

“So you…want me to just be a normal teenager?”

“As much as possible. I know you’re a bit out of your time, but you’ve got all of your emotions. You can make friends, date someone, the whole nine yards-and everything you feel will be you.”

“…But I thought I wasn’t supposed to get close to people.”

“…No, just not tell them. …It might be a good idea to…ah…not get _too_  close, though.”

“…Right. Thanks.”

_Then what’s the point?_

May 2011

Despite his constant foot-in-mouth disease, somehow Nanako still likes him, and somehow Yu hasn’t attempted murder for showing his uncle those ridiculous swim trunks. So he figures he can afford a break by taking the robot equivalent of a nap, even if he is supposed to be helping the others study.

(Sometimes, being a robot sucks. But when it comes to school, it’s _awesome._ )

Even when sleeping, his sensors are on, and when Yukiko mentions that there are haven’t been any attacks this week, something connects and sends him bolt upright. “That’s what I was thinking! It’s something we need to discuss.”

Chie jumps at his declaration, eyes wide and a little reproachful. “Sheesh! It’s like he just came back from the dead!”

“He looks good for dead.”

Yosuke’s lips twitch at Kaguya’s deadpan. “Well, technically, I _am_  dead, so thanks.”

"You're a very talkative zombie, then." Yu comments with a straight face. Souji groans and elbows his brother, obviously ignoring his sister's amused snorting, and Yosuke has to repress the urge to throw his pencil at Yu. He / _likes/_ this pencil.

He shares the theory he’s come up with-since every victim has been female, and every victim shared a connection with Ms. Yamano, it stands to reason that the killer’s motive is to kill every female associated with that case in some way. Why, he has no clue, but he has to put together something or they’re going to end up way behind.

Yu makes a good point about factoring in the Midnight Channel, and as he thinks it through, he realizes that the Channel might have been warning them about what was going to happen. They’ll have to watch it every night it rains, though, which honestly isn’t that much of a problem.

With that thought, he stands and grabs his bag, forgetting napping and studying in his eagerness to go check the weather.

Then Kaguya shifts. It's subtle, and quiet, at least as much as a tree falling is subtle and quiet, including the part where she falls and lands quite squarely on the robot. "Study time isn't over yet,” she mutters, even as Souji groans in exasperation at her.

Yosuke could shove her off, but he’s not going to risk the Boss’s wrath. Instead, he whines, “Awww, Kaguya, come on-I don’t need to study!”

"Neither do I,” she replies. "But if I got to social, so do you.”

“Fine. …Get off!”

***

Exams slog on, exhausting even his considerable energy. But they’re done soon enough, and that night, he catches sight of a news report on some freshman who apparently beat up an entire biker gang. He doesn’t think much of it until the next night it rains, and then he thinks a _lot_ of it, because the figure on the screen is a dead fit for his profile. It kind of ruins his idea, but he’s not so worried about that as he is about dealing with the Shadow of a kid who took out a _biker gang._

This Kanji kid seems to be determined to throw a wrench into everything. He was apparently the kid of a textile shop owner, and while that didn’t exactly mean he had to be _nice_ , he believed Yukiko when she said he used to be sweet. He couldn’t exactly imagine his parents being anything _but_ calm, kind people if they ran a textile shop. More importantly, though, knowing that he lived at a textile shop gave them a location to go check on him, so they could see exactly how much danger he was in.

The textile shop is pretty much what Yosuke expected—small, but inviting, with plenty of gorgeous fabrics on display. What catches his attention, though, was the short boy talking to the old woman in the middle of the shop. Something about him is making one of Yosuke’s sensors ping, but the robot couldn’t quite place what, even as the boy turned around.

As he leaves, the boy gives them all an intense side-eye that leaves Yosuke pretty much completely baffled. They were allowed to go to stores, weren’t they? Okay, yeah, having half-a-dozen teenagers in a textile shop is weird _,_ but not _that_ weird, and _definitely_  not deserving of a side eye. He turns to look at the triplets, then hastily elbows Kaguya when he sees her death glare. The kid might have been a bit of a jerk, but making him more suspicious is counterproductive.

Yu and Kaguya latch onto the scarf fabric at the same time, and when Chie properly identifies it, Yosuke forgets for a moment that there is someone else in the room that didn’t know about the TV World. Fortunately, Kanji’s grandmother is either too polite to mention that they were obviously insane or slightly deaf, so instead of shooing them out, she tells them about how Yamano-san had ordered the scarf custom made. That is a connection to her, even if it isn’t the strongest, and while Yosuke’s theory on gender is as dead as his original body, it does give the connection-to-Yamano-san theory new life.

The arrival of the delivery man cuts off any chance to get more information out of her, and stepping out into the street nearly brings them into the middle of a conversation between Kanji and the boy that had been talking to Kanji’s grandmother. They scramble to hide, and then get to watch as Kanji has himself a gay crisis.

“ _He’s a dude that finds another dude intriguing…”_

Yosuke risks a quick glance at Souji, then looks away, ducking his head slightly. Now is not the time to think about that, especially when it’s a moot point anyway.

_Especially_  especially when it’s a moot point and Kanji Tatsumi is about to kick your ass into next week. Yosuke had never been one to refuse to retreat, so it was no surprise that he was the first one out of there.

Yosuke was apparently the only one to hear what they were talking about, so he gives them a vague overview without mentioning the whole gay-freak-out-thing, then suggests they stake out Kanji and the shop. If they can stop the kidnapping before it happens, then maybe they can catch the kidnapper in action.

Of course, parts of that plan were still not quite in place.

“All right,first things first—Yukiko, I’m going to need your cell phone number.”

Chie’s shriek makes Yosuke wince. “WHAT?! So that’s what you were angling for?!”

“Chill out, will you? Geez, I’m going to need it for the mission, that’s all. Boss, back me up here.”

"Don't mack on the job", Kaguya intones with a straight face, giving only the faintest snort when Souji elbows her. “Okay, okay—fork it over, Yukiko.”

“Are you _trying_ to get me killed?” Yosuke shakes his head, then grins at Yukiko expectantly.

“Oh, I just remembered—I was supposed to get some tofu.”

“ _Whaaaa?_ ”

_***_

Part one of the plan involves waiting for Kanji and the blue-haired boy from yesterday to meet up outside of Yasogami. Once again, the smaller boy makes something ping in one of his sensors, and Yosuke makes a mental note to have Souji check that sensor before focusing on what the pair was saying.

It’s…almost adorable how flustered Kanji is getting over this, but they have a plan to carry out. “Souji, Chie, we’ll go follow Kanji. You three go stake out the textile shop!” Ignoring Chie’s momentary call of protest, he runs after the pair, keeping his distance while still keeping within range.

This is some of what Yosuke was designed to do, and it’s easy to let his subroutines take over and guide him through the process. Souji’s repairs are showing his skill, too—no inopportune creaks or system errors to distract him or alert the pair. However, there is something a little distracting…

“So, um, d’you mind telling me why we’re using our phones?”

“If we were standing next to each other talking it’d be too obvious! Duh!”

“Okay, let me rephrase that—why are we using our phones when we’re less than two meters apart?! Go across the street or something! He can nab us while we’re standing here!”

Yosuke can hear Souji facepalming from his spot in a bush, and he takes a moment to give him a brief but very rude gesture. Somehow, Yosuke gets the impression that he’s facepalming _harder_ , and instead of replying with the chain of rude gestures that he knows, he turns back to Chie. “Why aren’t you going?!”  
“They might hear me! Besides, I’m getting the munchies.”

“Then order delivery or something!”

“Delivery? But we’re standing on a corner!”

That gets an eyebrow raise out of Yosuke. “Didn’t you know? Aya says her place will deliver anywhere. It doesn’t matter where you are—you just gotta call them up and ask.”

Chie’s face lights up, and before Yosuke can kick himself, she’s ordering two bowls of nikudon rather loudly. He turns to try to shush her, then freezes as a shadow falls over them both.

“Well, hello there.”

They both look up into Kanji Tatsumi’s rather enraged face as he growls, “Just what do you think you’re doing?” Yosuke stares back for a moment, then springs up, awkward smile firmly in place and suddenly very glad he cannot sweat.

“Uh, we were just passing by, looking for our friend—and there he is! Hey, Souji!”

It’s pretty obvious that Souji’s scrambling just as hard as they are, what with his slightly panicked waving. "Uh h-hi! S-sorry I uh—my poor phone took a nose dive into the uh...into the thing."

“The…bush?” Kanji seems pretty derailed by Souji’s appearance, something that Yosuke takes as a minor victory.

"Y-yeah. Sorry for the hold up, guys." Souji skitters over to the other two, and thankfully he looks embarrassed, even if it's for entirely different reasons than what Kanji’s probably thinking.

“Yeah, it’s the three amigos, all together again! So, if you don’t mind, we’ll just be—“

“Hey.” Kanji leans in, squinting at them, and Yosuke prepares to mourn the loss of another carbon-fiber breastplate. “Didn’t I see you yesterday?”

“We aren’t trying to follow you or anything, or think you might be gay! And if you are, that’s totally cool too! I think that’s great!”

Yosuke’s teeth seem to be trying to cringe their way out of his metallic skull, and he glances at Souji out of one squinted eye. Souji has paled horrifically and already taken several steps back, and Yosuke wants to follow him for multiple reasons—not least of which is that his mechanical brain has chosen this moment to bring up a full-fidelity soundclip from yesterday.

“ _He’s a dude that finds another dude intriguing…”_

Yosuke shakes his head, then blinks a bit as Kanji’s face goes from angry to confused. “…Are you saying…I like dudes?” The boy is _blushing,_  for heaven’s sake, and Yosuke blinks back before glaring at Chie.

“Chie, you moron, you just couldn’t keep your mouth shut!” He can’t help but sound flustered himself, and he very carefully avoids looking in Souji’s direction as he backs away. “Run for it!”

He is, at least, kind enough to grab Souji’s arm so his partner isn’t left behind with the guy who beat up a biker gang, and he figures that Chie’ll survive—she could probably take a biker gang herself if she were in the mood. That mood would probably involve meat somehow, but she had nikudon on the way, and heaven help the person who got in the middle of that.

From somewhere behind them, Yosuke can hear Kanji yelling after them, even with the sound of him and Souji panting and their feet echoing off the walls around them.

“I know what it looks like, but you’re wrong! I-I-I’m telling you! I-it’s not like that!”

Part of Yosuke is wincing in empathy, and he might have to smack that part later because he’s pretty sure it’s why he was jealous when Souji was ‘dating Ai,’ but the rest is generally screaming, both internally and externally as they run past Yu, Kaguya, and Yukiko. The chase goes on as the other three join them, and then takes a turn for the absolutely surreal as Aya catches up to them—two bowls of nikudon, for ¥1600. And when they finally ditch Kanji, Chie proclaims her meal delicious.

Yosuke just shakes his head. “Well, at least someone’s happy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I'm still alive? And working on this? If you've been waiting, I'm sorry, and thank you for your long-tested patience!


	6. Don't Let Me Get Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which Things Get Awkward. As always, help from whatisthisnonsense
> 
> (Also this is much longer than any other chapter. Congrats, me.)

 

May 2011

Yosuke is really, really beginning to wish he could delete memories of his own accord. There is no reason why he shouldn’t be able to—maybe Souji could help. Because if not, he is going to have to get creative with a wall and a hammer to make this go away.

He did not want to see Kanji Tatsumi mostly naked shaking his thang _ever again._ If Kirijo would make it go away, he would gladly go back there and do whatever she wanted.

Unfortunately, it isn’t going away, and he has to call Yu. His voice is laden with resignation and no small amount of regret when their leader picks up and he can ask, “Hey, did you see that?”

“I did.”

“So then, you saw—“

“I saw it all. Want a copy?”

“Yeah, _no.”_

_***_

Yosuke had forgotten that Yukiko hadn’t gone into the TV World properly yet. He would like to watch her look around for a bit, but they have a slightly bigger problem with their Navibear.

“What? You’re really saying you have no idea where Kanji Tatsumi is?” Yosuke can’t keep the exasperation out of his voice, and subsequently has to duck a glare from Kaguya that he could feel trying to strip his skin off.

Fortunately, Souji, in his everlasting kindness, is a little better at working with Teddie, and crouches beside him. “Easy, Ted. Can you think of anything that might help?”

“I-I don’t know. I can only imagine this is because I have so much on my mind, like where do I come from? Who am I? These questions are tearing me up inside!”

“Weird, since your insides are filled with nothing but air.” This time, both Souji and Kaguya glare at him, and he ducks again. At least he looks sorry when he looks back up.

Kaguya steps up beside Teddie and takes his paw. “Deep breaths, bear cub.”

Souji nods at that. ”We promise we'll help you sort yourself out, but we really need your help, Ted.”

That’s when Yu gets a lightbulb, and one that Yosuke wishes he had thought of earlier. He’s supposed to be the supercomputer around here, isn’t he?

"Hey, we're tracking him by scent, right? What if we get something of his, or that he's had his mitts all over? Might make it easier for you.”

“That could work!” Teddie’s voice goes from upset and confused to ridiculously enthusiastic so fast it’s a wonder he doesn’t break something.

Yu doesn't smile—not that he ever does—but he looks satisfied and nods. "Well then, there's our plan, team."

Souji smiles for Yu, with some sympathy woven in for Teddie. "We'll be back real soon with something, Teddie, promise."

As they all file out, Kaguya hangs back with Teddie. Yukiko waits for them, and when Yosuke asks later what they were doing, she just shrugs.

“They were talking. They both looked a lot better after that.”

“Yeah…” Yosuke crosses his arms, then shakes his head. “Well, if the Boss and the teddy bear are getting along, who am I to complain? Not like I don’t want her to have friends.”

Still, it was…kind of weird. Cute, but weird. Something to keep an eye on, he supposed—after they had dealt with the nightmare fuel that was going to be Kanji’s dungeon.

***

Kanji’s mother is kind of a bust. She’s basically able to confirm that she loved her son for who he was, worried about him, and had alerted the police since not coming home after a day like this was, surprisingly, out of character. Oh, and that he had basically beaten up a bunch of bikers because they had been keeping his mom up at night.

That…was actually a pretty good reason, truth be told, but it gets them no closer to getting to Kanji. Fortunately, there’s a tiny kid outside to come to their rescue—and to ruin Kanji’s tough-guy image even more.

“Are you saying Kanji Tatsumi made a cute little bunny charm for you from scratch?” Yosuke found the biker gang odd but understandable, but this was just…insane. A delinquent that crochets?

He looks at the Narukamis for a little support, only to sigh as Souji cries, “Aww, it’s so cute!” Not that he can _argue_ since it was _adorable,_ but that is no more helpful than Yu’s approving nod or Kaguya’s muttering about the color. And Chie and Yukiko’s admiration is the final nail in the coffin for any hope of commiseration on his exasperation, making him sigh loudly and only barely resist throwing his hands up in the air.

“Because of everything the big guy did for me, Sana forgave me! So I wanted to stop by and tell him thank you.” The kid looks so hopeful that Yosuke hates to tell him that Kanji wasn’t here right now. Fortunately, Yukiko has things covered.

“Hey! Listen, can we ask you for a favor? We need to find Kanji too, and we think this will help us—we’ll give it back as soon as we can!”

“Uh…sure.” The kid blinks, then gave her a semi-serious look. “But I better get it back!”

***

They’re just walking into Junes when they spot the kid in blue that had been talking to Kanji. Yosuke shuts off the weird sensor ping that kept popping up around him (he really needed to have Souji look at that), then follows the triplets over to talk to him.

“So, our paths cross again.” The boy turns to look at them, and Yosuke did his best to look casual.

“Yeah, what a coincidence.” He tucks a hand into his pocket, then tilts his head slightly as the boy spoke.

“Did you hear? It looks as if Kanji is hiding out somewhere.”

“It looks as if he might be.” Yu’s calm voice helps Yosuke keep his relaxed facade up, even as Souji shoves Kaguya toward the nearest display. Why they were pretending to be so fascinated by fish tank supplies, Yosuke would never know, but if it works, it works. That done, Yosuke leans forward slightly, trying for friendly and getting slightly intimidating instead.

“Hey, by the way—what exactly was it that you and Kanji were talking about yesterday?”

Of all the reactions he was expecting, an awkward stutter is not one of them. “Ehm…why do you want to know that?”

“Uh…just curious. That’s all.” No need to make the kid too uncomfortable, after all—he seemed all right, if straight-laced.

“All right. Fair enough. And since your group seems to be in a hurry, I’ll be completely straight with you.” The kid recovers fast, and if Yosuke weren’t such a consummate actor, he’d look nervous. “When we met up, all I did was say hi and ask him what he’d been up to lately.”

“Really. It was just small talk?”

“Yep, pretty much.” The kid looks down thoughtfully. “But thinking back, he was acting strange and not really like himself the whole time.”

_Well, that would be because he was having himself a good old-fashioned gay crisis._ Yosuke gently bites his tongue to keep himself from spitting that out, then looks back at Yu as he asked, “He was?”

“Yeah, and it kept getting worse, so I decided to call him out on it. I said, ‘Why are you acting so weird?’ and then he got awkward and the color drained from his face.”

“That is weird.” Except it totally wasn’t, and Yosuke can totally understand while also being glad that he didn’t _have_ blood to drain from his face anytime he gets nervous. “He doesn’t seem like the time who cares what people think about him.”

“You can’t judge a book by its cover. Maybe he’s struggling—it’s quite possible that Kanji has some issues that we don’t know about.” The kid seems downright worried about Kanji, so Yosuke does his best to give him a reassuring smile.

“Well, whatever they are, if we can help him, we will.” Even if that meant going into the bathhouse.

***

It’s another few minutes before they can actually get into the TV World, thanks to Souji and Kaguya _actually buying a fish tank, what the hell._ But Yosuke can stow it in the back room until they get done, so it’s not long before they’re standing in front of the dungeon.

Truth be told, Yosuke could have waited. And waited. Honestly, he could have waited his _whole life_ for this and been happy, but here he is, fiddling with his knives and edging closer to Souji as if he can hide behind his partner. Said partner is leaning into him now, pale and already sweating from the heat, and Yosuke jumps to the side hastily so they don’t actually touch.

“Ugh, why's it so hot here? This is no place fur someone like me!” Teddie’s words distract Yosuke from his careful maneuvering as well as his fiddling with his knives, and it’s a moment of fumbling before he has them under control.

“Uh—yeah, and it’s not great for me either!” Yosuke’s laugh is high-pitched and nervous as he scratches his head. “What if water condenses on my internal electronics? Maybe we should just go—“

"No. We still need to save Kanji." Yu tilts his head, considering. "Might need to do something about overheating, though.”

"Way ahead of you." Kaguya's jacket and tie go flying, followed by her gloves. Yosuke just groans and shucks his own jacket, doing his level best to ignore the way everyone else was following suit.

“Souji, if I die from shorting out, it’s your job to make them feel bad.”

“W-will do.”

Before they can do much more than pile their extra clothes next to the doors, a loudspeaker comes on, playing what can only be described as sexual saxophone music underneath an announcer of some sort. **_“Well, hello there, pussycat. You have an amazing set of abs! There’s nothing to be afraid of. Just relax.”_**

Yosuke turns around, fully intending to _leave_ and _never come back._ “I’m out! See you guys back at Junes—ghyyk!“

The hand that had grabbed his shirt seemed to be attached to Yu, because it is his flat, “No,” that accompanies hauling Yosuke back to the group.

Kaguya is the one to find amusement in all of this. "Hey maybe if one of you boys strip all the way down to your knickers, you'll distract him.”

And everyone else—including Yosuke—are the ones to screech, “ABSOLUTELY NOT!”

***

Yosuke can feel his circuitry beginning to fry as they walked the halls of the bathhouse. He’s mostly waterproof, and it’s not like a bad rain would knock him out, but something about the steam here—maybe some interaction with the Fog or something—is making it spark uncomfortably.

“Uh, hives—guys, I think I’m having some tissues—issues.” Yosuke grimaces. “Take—make that definitely.”

“I’ll say. Maybe you should…not talk for a bit?” Yosuke can hear the worry in Chie’s voice, and Yukiko echoes it with a nod. Souji, however, is the most outwardly worried, and it takes a lot of self control for Yosuke to _not_ shove him away. _Why_ had he taken off his _shirt_ , too?

“Do you want me to walk you back and take a look?” Yosuke blinked at Souji, eyes quite firmly on his _face,_ then shook his head.

“Nah, I’m pine—fine, for now. Just…yeah.”

“You sure?” Even Yu is getting in on the worry game—which was kind of unnerving actually—but Yosuke just shakes his head again.

“Just peep—keep an eye on me?” He tries to keep his voice up-beat, but Souji’s gentle, worried squeeze of his shoulders takes some of the steam out of that. “…I’ll be fine, partner. You’ll key—see. _Damn_ it.”

They reach a large, open space fairly soon, and peer around a large red banner to find none other than Shadow Kanji, posing and thrusting and generally making Yosuke want to run far, _far_ away from here.

**_“My, my, thank you for noticing me! I am Kanji.”_** Shadow Kanji sounds barely anything like Kanji in actuality, what with the affected lisp and the high-pitched voice, and if it weren’t for his face, Yosuke would think they were dealing with someone else’s Shadow entirely. It seems that Yosuke’s general sentiment of _what the hell_ is shared by everyone else, from Yu’s resignation to the fact that this is happening, to Souji’s oddly accurate impression of a dying cat, to Kaguya covering Teddie’s eyes and the other two girls covering their own.

“I'm blind! What's happening?” Teddie’s squeaky voice makes Yosuke shake his head, but it’s Chie who answers.

“You really, really don’t want to know, Ted. Just let her cover your eyes.”

**_“Well, well, well. We’re airing live from the tropical paradise Suspicious!”_** Yosuke is becoming more and more tempted to cover his eyes, or Souji’s eyes, or _something,_ because this is not safe for _anyone_ to see. **_“All this steam is making my blood start to pump!”_**

“Yeah, well, it’s making my blood sneeze— _freeze._ ”

"Can I be excused to go die in a corner?” Yosuke wholeheartedly seconds Souji’s notion, and when Yu’s flat voice forbids them, he can’t help an immature expression at Yu’s back. Fortunately for him, all Kaguya does is snort, even as she readjusts her grip to make sure Teddie can’t have his eyes any more sullied.

**_“All right, sweeties. Since everyone here is all hot and bothered—“_** _like hell we are,_ Yosuke can’t help thinking— **_“let’s go to our next segment!”_**

Somehow, a title card pops up in front of Shadow Kanji, and Yosuke cannot help the gormless stare he has on his face. Even Yu seems to be getting a bit flustered as he says, “This…could get a little awkward, in more ways than one.”

Chie, for her part, hunches into herself. “Aw, man, when we were trying to save Yukiko, it was just like this too.”

“No it wasn’t!” Yukiko’s freakout is immediate and extremely high pitched. “It wasn’t anything like this!”

“It kinda was.” Yosuke grimaces. “She was on a spud— _stud_ hunt, for heaven’s sake.”

"I think she was on a something else hunt, frankly,” Kaguya intones, glancing at Chie. 

Chie squawks. "What's _that_ supposed to mean!"

Yu, apparently over his flustering, grumbles, “Focus, guys.”

“Kinda have to degree— _agree_ with Yu here _._ And what’s parading—creating these weird-ass images, anyway? The guy who’s throwing them in here?”

Unfortunately, his question would go forever unanswered, because Shadow Kanji chose that moment to speak up again. **_“I really do love getting my groove on with you, but I must continue my search for the bump and grind!”_ ** Yosuke turned away as he threw up a little in his mouth, but not long enough to avoid the sight of Shadow Kanji’s ass as he ran through the door on the other side of the room. **_“Follow if you dare!”_**

“I’m not sure I really bear— _dare,_ damn it!”

Yu just closes his eyes solemnly. "Well, guess I'm scarred for life now."

“Same.” Kaguya’s deadpan makes Yosuke groan, and apparently Souji shares his sentiment.

“Can we not be so calm about this?”

“Hey, I’m not calm at all, partner.” Yosuke squeezes Souji’s shoulder, steadfastly ignoring the way the motion drew his eyes to the other teen’s well-muscled arms, then looked up as an alert went off. “Guys, bin—incoming!”

***

Fortunately, while his vocal systems are slightly scrambled, the rest of his systems are working fine, and with Yukiko, they have plenty of fire to fry the enemies coming at them as they hurried through the bathhouse. Yosuke can occasionally hear Yukiko muttering under her breath as they ran, but decides to not comment—he might be fire resistant, but he isn’t fireproof by any stretch of the imagination.

Soon enough they reach a…rather colorful door, welcoming them to the tropical paradise. Yosuke stares up at it, honestly amazed, then glances over at Chie as she speaks. “…This is where he’s hiding out, isn’t he?”

“…Yeah. Gotta be.” Yosuke grimaces, then looks over at Yu. “Do we have to tow—go in there?”

“Yes.” Yu’s flat tone makes both Yosuke and Souji whimper, but they both straighten up and move closer to the other Narukamis, even as Kaguya reaches down to cover Teddie’s eyes again. Ignoring his squeaks of dismay, Yu reaches out and pushes the door open.

The sight of Kanji pinning his Shadow to the ground greets them, and Yosuke just stands in the door, staring.

Yu is the first to speak. “Well, add narcissism to the list.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Yosuke can see Souji elbow Yu, even as Chie says, “I don’t think that’s narcissism…”

“Don’t think _what_ is narcissism?” Teddie is fighting to get out from behind Kaguya’s hands, but the girl is having none of it. “I can’t see!”

“That isn’t a bad thing, actually.” Yukiko sounds equal parts appalled and fascinated, and Yosuke can’t blame her.

“She’s bright—right, Teddie. Just let Kaguya protect your innocence.” Yosuke can’t tear his eyes away from the startled boy now staring at them as he straddles his Shadow, even as he leans closer to Souji. “Think you can wipe my image memory after this?”

Souji’s, “If only,” makes it clear that he wishes he could wipe it from his own memory, and Yosuke can’t blame him.

Kanji chooses this moment to reboot. “Wh-what are you guys doing here?”

“Well…we came…to pave—save you.”

“Well, you sure as hell don’t sound all that motivated!” Unfortunately for Kanji, his Shadow takes the opportunity to shove Kanji away and spring to its feet.

**_“Whoopsie daisy! I won’t let you interfere!”_ ** Yosuke blinks at the Shadow, then scrambles a few steps back as the baths overflow.

Chie, however, steps _forward,_ and her foot slides out from under her. Yukiko tries to help, but only ends up getting pulled down too.

“Oh, it’s _slimy._ Ugh…this stuff is _gross!_ ” The girls try to get up, only to slip and faceplant again, and while part of Yosuke can’t help but find this…fascinating, the rest is eloquently summed up in his next words.

“ _Slimy?_ Why the hell is it limey—slimy?”

Kaguya picks Teddie up and carries him as far away from the ooze as she can, which isn’t all that far. Souji pales leans back, and Yosuke shoots a hand out to support him as Yu says, “Maybe we shouldn’t ask questions.”

“You know? Probably a good idea.”

“You bastard…” Kanji’s actual voice makes Yosuke refocus on the pair further in as Shadow Kanji stood over his normal counterpart.

**_“Honey, why don’t you just drop the charade.”_**

“Huh…?”

**_“Isn’t it time for you to tell people how you truly feel?”_** Shadow Kanji’s eyes seem to glow brighter as he stretches his arms over his head, and the husky drop in his voice makes Yosuke shudder unpleasantly. **_“I’m everything that you wish you could be.”_**

“You liar!”

“Shit—don’t listen to him!” Yosuke rocks forward, intending to tackle one of the pair if he has to. Then Souji’s hand closes around his wrist, and he jumps.

Forward.

Into the slime.

And into the girls.

While the four of them are flailing around (and Yosuke is trying very, very hard to look anywhere but at Souji) and Kaguya is snorting while still covering Teddie’s eyes, Yu just stares at them, then looks up at the first year and his Shadow. “...Right. Can we all calm down now? Because this is already embarrassing.”

The Shadow just smirks at him, then turns back to its owner, mock-thoughtful. **_“I really hate girls. They look at me and say, ‘You like to sew?’ or if I paint a pretty picture they laugh at it and say, ‘Wow, that’s weird for a guy.’”_**

Yosuke manages to prop himself up on his hands and squints at the pair as Kanji growls at his Shadow. Somehow, that seems to drain the rest of Kanji’s energy, because he slumps forward and grabs his shoulders. **_“You should be strong. You should be tough! You should be_ manly! _But what’s that even mean? Girls can be so scary.”_**

Yosuke blinks. “Uh…is this…supposed to be a gay freak out? Because…somehow it doesn’t sound like one. Unless girls being mean can _make_ you gay…”

Souji mumbles, “That’s not how it works,” and Yosuke sighs.

“Kinda thought so.”

“Girls aren’t scary—“

**_“Guys are much better.”_ ** Shadow Kanji speaks over Kanji like he’s not even there. **_“They never say those awful things! That’s why I like men!”_**

“That’s not true!”

**_“But it is. See, you are me, and I am so you.”_**

“Like hell you are.” Yu yells for Kanji to stop, but the punk ignores him. “There’s no freakin’ way you are a part of me!”

As the Shadow downright _giggles,_ Yosuke finally regains his feet and hauls Souji up. “Great. Just _great._ Let’s get this over with.”

***

“He punched his Shadow.”

If Yosuke lives to be a hundred years old, he will not forget the image of Kanji Tatsumi punching his own Shadow in the face. Yu mutters something about that being more useful earlier, but Yosuke waves his words off.

“Dude, he _punched_ his _Shadow._ How is that _not_ awesome?”

That’s when Kaguya slapped him in the face with her too-sticky hair. He makes a face, then grumbles, “Point taken,” before staring off down the road after the direction Kanji had shuffled off. “So…he’s not gay. I guess.”

“Might be. Might be bi. Does it really matter?” Souji’s mumble kind of catches Yosuke off guard, and he blinks over at him.

“…I guess not, but it’s…kinda weird, I guess, with that boy? The one in the blue?”

“S'not weird.” Now Souji sounds a little hurt. Kaguya slaps Yosuke with her sticky hair again, harder, getting an irritated noise out of the robot.

“Not…I mean, it’s _weird_ because that boy…just seems like a weird match. With him.”

Souji has fallen silent, so Yu gently puts his hand on his shoulder, and a much tighter hand on Yosuke’s. "Yosuke? Hush."

“…Uh…okay, but what did I say that time?”

" _Yosuke._ "

“ _Yu_.” There’s a lot of irritation in Yosuke’s voice now. “I can’t exactly _learn_ from my mistakes if I don’t have a clue what they _are_.”

“And I will tell you later but now is _not_ the time."

“…Fine.” Yosuke looks away, trying to keep the grumble out of his voice. “At least my circuits are working ben—hen— _again!”_ Yosuke throws his hands up in the air. “Screw it! I’m going bone—home, and I had _better_ wake up normal, you hear me, world?!”

***

He does wake up normal, thank God, and manages to get Yu alone to talk about what the hell was going with Souji yesterday.

That’s when he finds out that his best friend is a. gay and b. short on dates. Yosuke blinks at him for a long moment, then sighs.

“Right. Okay. So I won’t bring it up around him again.”

“Good man.”

“…Thanks.” He didn’t exactly feel like it, but if Yu thought he was good, then he’d let him.

Now to stop his perfect-memory brain from bringing up the image of Souji shirtless and covered in that _slime,_ and he’d be fine.


	7. A-Camping We Will Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which Yosuke Regrets A Lot Of Choices  
> As always, help from whatisthisnonsense

November 10, 2010

 

“Now, you are capable of eating, but things will probably taste strange to you unless you add some of this.” Three small shakers are set in front of Yosuke, and he picks up the first to read the label. _Iron._

“If you are damaged, food will help you repair yourself more quickly, since otherwise your internal systems will have to wait until you set yourself up to charge, and depending on what you are doing, you may only need to charge once a week.”

“So…what, I just tell people I really like peppery food?”

“If you feel that will work.”

“…Right.”

 

June 16, 2011

Yosuke is actually pretty excited for the camping trip, truth be told. He’s never been—when his class went when he was actually human, he was too busy being sick. So he hopes he can be excused for acting like some over-eager puppy as they went to shop.

“So, what’s it like? What do we do out there?”

“We’ll clean up trash all afternoon—“

“Aw, man!”

“—but it’s not all bad!” Chie grinned at him. “We’ll cook our own food, and sleep in tents, and we’ll probably have time to go swimming!”

“Wait, if all of us count as a group…” Yosuke glanced around, counting. “…We’re not going to all fit in one tent.”

Kaguya rolls her eyes. "It's split between genders. You'll be sleeping with Yu and Souji, most likely."

Souji, who had been happily checking a book out he wanted to read on the trip, suddenly turns bright red and turns down a different isle, which makes Yosuke cough, then nod. “Right, Duh. …Did you say something about swimming, Chie?”

“Yeah—there’s a river we can swim in! It’s pretty nice.”

“…Awesome. You know, you guys decide what to eat—I’ll probably be good with whatever. I’ve got some things I should probably grab for the trip—I’ll meet up with you later!”

***

Yosuke returns with a shopping bag in hand to find that Chie and Yukiko have taken over the proceedings for getting dinner ingredients. Since he is certain he does _not_ want to involve himself in whatever that is turning into, he sidles up to Yu and opens the bag. “Psst. Look what I got.”

Yu looks in and raises one slim eyebrow. Yosuke fidgets quietly as he looks the goods over, then when Yu gives an approving nod, he grins broadly. “There’s one for everyone. I wasn’t sure if you guys had some, so I picked some up.”

"Thanks." Yu never smiles, but there's satisfaction and amusement in his eyes, and that’s enough for Yosuke. He closes the bag, then looks over at Chie and Yukiko. 

“So…what’s going on here?”

Yu shrugs. "Something about making us food, I think."

“What kind of food?"

"...Curry?"

“…Is that an answer or a question?"

“Both.”

“…Uh…right.” Yosuke watches for a moment more, then shakes his head. “Where’d Souji go? I want to show him his.”

“I think he hid in the books when sharing tents came up.”

“…Right. …Should I leave him to that, then?"

“Probably.”

“I’ll just give you his and Kaguya’s suits, then. Lemme know before we leave if they don’t fit, okay?” Yu nods calmly and takes the swimsuits, and Yosuke grins at him. “See you tomorrow!”

 

June 17, 2011

 

The start of the camping trip is pretty slow. They pick trash, set up tents, and basically get ready to camp. By the time they break to cook, Yosuke is actually hungry, or what passes for hungry for a robot. He’s not certain that Chie should be in charge of cooking, but he’s got faith in Yukiko. Even when the curry comes out smelling…kind of odd, he’s got faith. After all, everything food smells odd to him now.

The Narukamis do not seem to share his confidence. Yu and Souji are scooting as far away from the pot as possible, and Kaguya seems to have given up on it entirely and is cooking her own food, after shooing the girls away. But Yosuke needs to eat if he’s not going to charge tonight, what with all of the extra repair he’s been doing because of the Bathhouse, so when the curry’s ready, he is the first to take an eager bite.

This, as it turns out, is a mistake.

Later, once his internal alarms have stopped telling him he’s going to die, he learns that he fell backward off the bench and nearly took out the rest of the pot. What he wakes up to, though, is Souji’s blurry face as he frets over the robot. Yosuke stares for a moment, then rolls over and starts retching.

He can vaguely hear Yu throwing away the food, and even more vaguely hear Chie and Yukiko making some sort of lame apology, but most of his attention is taken up by the fact that apparently throwing up is _really hard_ as a robot. Souji helps somewhat in that he rolls Yosuke over and rubs his back, but it’s still a moment before he can get that one bite he ate actually _out._

At some point, Kaguya had apparently abandoned her cooking in favor of checking on him, because her voice comes from his left. “Is he dying?”

Yu is the one to reply. “No, but it looks like he wishes he was.”

“Hey!”

“It can’t be _that_ bad!”

“It _is!”_ Yosuke spits, then glares at Yukiko and Chie. “It’s slimy and gritty and mushy all at once—and did you put _iron filings_ in that?”

“…Yes? We thought it’d help it taste better for you!”

Yosuke can feel Souji cringe, and he glares up at the girls. “That’s not exactly safe for _humans_ , you know!”

“…Oh.”

Yosuke just sighs and flops back down, careful to avoid the blob of curry on the ground. “You guys eat whatever Kaguya made. I’m not sure I can eat anything else until my alarms shut up.”

***

Souji saves some of the curry for Yosuke, thank god. He’s more than tempted to hug him, but he is somewhat aware that doing so would probably make things awkward. So instead, he gives him a quick grin and chows down, murmuring appreciatively as he eats.

“Seriously—thanks, dude. This is—great. Where’s your—sister?”

"She headed to the girl's tent early-- something about getting a headache." Souji frowns, concerned, before his eyes dart briefly to Yu. Yu nods, confirming, and Yosuke frowns himself.

“She gonna be ok?”

"Yeah, she should be. Just needs to sleep it off."

“Cool.” He goes back to eating, then manages, “I’ll tell her—tomorrow, then.”

He finishes his curry quickly enough, then looks over as footsteps reach his ears to see Yukiko, Chie, and Kanji approaching them. He sets aside the bowl, then stands up and raises an eyebrow. “Come to apologize, have we?”

“Hey, what do I need to apologize for?!”

“Not you, idiot!” Yosuke gives Kanji a look of pure exasperation. “Those two. They tried to kill us all with their curry!”

Yu nods, with great seriousness. "It was an act of the highest order of evil."

Souji groans and the girls protest, but Kanji just stares at them. “Kill you? With _curry?_ ”

“Yep.” Yosuke makes a face. “It was _disgusting._ ”

"Iron fillings, Kanji. Never mind everything around it.” Yu’s calm voice does not seem to help Kanji understand—in fact, he just seems _more_ confused.  
“Why the hell would you put _iron filings_ in a curry?!”

“So he would enjoy it! Duh!” Chie points at Yosuke, and it is in that moment that he realizes what they’ve forgotten to tell Kanji.

“Uh…we forgot to explain it, guys.”

“Explain _what?!_ ”

Souji’s mumble is almost unintelligible, but Yosuke figures that, “Maybe not here,” is a pretty good guess as to what he said.

“Well, duh. …One of you is coming with me.”

Yu shoves Souji forward as a sacrifice, and Yosuke is perfectly fine with this, because if Kanji breaks him, Souji is about the only one who can fix him. He is also certain to help Kanji calm _down,_ rather than the potential Yu has to egg him on. So, after making certain that King Moron was nowhere near them, he gestured for Souji and Kanji to follow him. 

Kanji is, quite understandably, suspicious. “You’re not going to do anything _weird_ , are you?”

“Yes, I’m going to do something weird. No, it is not going to be sexual.” Yosuke huffed, then ducked behind a tree and waved them over. “Souji, for the love of god, don’t let him punch me.”

“I’ll...try."

Yosuke sighs, then unzips his track jacket and tosses it to the side. As soon as he starts pulling off his shirt, Kanji starts to panic.

“Hey, I said nothing weird!” As he gets the shirt off, Yosuke finds Kanji raring up to punch him. Yosuke stumbles back, but before he can get out of there, Souji gets his arms hooked under Kanji’s arm’s with a yelp. Yosuke stares for a moment, and Kanji seems just as surprised because he doesn’t even struggle. Yosuke gives Souji a thumbs up, then shoves his pants off beforeKanji can _start_ struggling.

Kanji, understandably, just stares. Less understandably, his first words are, “…Dude, where’s your junk?”

Souji groans and thunks his head into Kanji’s shoulder. "Really, man? That's what you focus on?”

“I mean…it’s pertinent?” Yosuke starts tugging his pants back on, then looks around for his shirt. “It’s…kind of gone. I’m a robot.”

“…Oh.” Kanji blinks for a moment, then looks at Souji. “You can let go, dude.” Souji makes a sound somewhere between a groan and a whine, but complies, and Kanji comes over just as Yosuke is pulling on his shirt to bang on his back. It makes a satisfying metallic clunk, and also sends Yosuke into a bush. “Huh. Guess you are a robot.”

“No shit, Sherlock.” Yosuke tries to get up, then freezes as he hears something rip. “Okay, someone get me untangled before Morooka sees!”

***

The tents are meant to be shared by three students. Yosuke, Souji, and Yu fit quite comfortably in theirs, even with Souji trying to be as far away as physically possible from Yosuke. Yosuke is nonplussed—robots don’t have BO, do they?—but lets it be in favor of trying to get comfortable in his way-too-thin-for-a-robot sleeping bag.

That’s when Kanji slips in the front flap.

“Dude, what the hell?”

Yu, ever eloquent in his silence, simply raises an eyebrow. Souji, on the other hand, squeaks as Yu accidentally bumps him while sitting up, then sits up himself, looking mighty confused. “Kanji?"

“Apparently, there’s ‘no room’ in my original tent.” Kanji just looks generally irritated rather than hurt, which Yosuke takes as a good sign. “Mind if I bunk with you?”

Yu and Souji look at each other, and shrug. Souji turns and smiles at Kanji, kindly as always. “Sure. Come on in.”

With Souji attempting to meld with his brother, there’s plenty of room for Kanji, but Yosuke still scoots over a bit as he flops his sleeping bag down and lays down on top of it. There’s a long moment of silence as both Kanji and Yosuke try to get comfortable, then Yosuke decides to ask the question that’s got to be on everyone’s mind.

“Dude, is it going to be safe to sleep with you in here?”

Apparently, this was the wrong question to ask, because Kanji sits bolt upright and turns a glare on Yosuke that would probably make Kaguya proud if it wasn’t for the blush on his cheeks. “What do you mean by _that?!_ ”

“I don’t know what you’re like when you’re sleeping! I don’t want to wake up with you on top of me!”

Kanji makes an outraged noise, while Souji makes a garbled one. Yu pats his brother, then looks at Kanji. Looks at Yosuke. Looks back at Kanji. "...Don't bust him up too much."

“The _hell_ , Yu?! You’re not supposed to give him _permission_ to kill me!”

“Dude, we just had the conversation of ‘no' a few days ago.” Yu gestures at Souji, who's hiding his head under a pillow. "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time. Night, kids.” And with that, he rolls back over to sleep.

“THAT’S NOT WHAT I MEANT!”

“Hey, why’s he hiding from me?!” Kanji and Yosuke yell over each other, then glare at each other. After a moment, Kanji is the one to break the stalemate. “You know what? I’m going to sleep in the girl’s tent! They’ve got more balls than all of you put together!”

Yosuke can see it as Souji mentally pauses, then pulls the pillow off his head and sits up, alarmed. “U-uh, I don't think that's a good idea—!”

But it’s too late. Kanji is out the front flap and sprinting through the campsite, leaving a baffled Yosuke in his wake. “…I just didn’t want punched in my sleep.”

Souji blinks at him, blushes, and then flops on his pillow, and Yu finally deigns explain. "It sounded like you didn't want to get _jumped_ in your sleep, Yosuke.”

“Oh, for the love of—then why didn’t you _say_ so?!”

“You literally said 'wake up with you on top of me,’ dude.”

Souji whines, which Yosuke decides to ignore in an attempt to not embarrass him. Instead, he glares over at Yu, gesturing to his chest. “Yes, because I also don’t need my breastplate dented again!”

“...Yosuke. We need to have a long talk about Innuendo and How To Avoid It.”

“We need to have a long talk about _you_ and your inability to—“

That’s when the tent flap opens again to reveal Chie and Yukiko. Yosuke stares, completely confused, then blinks as Chie sheepishly says, “Hey, guys.”

“Wh—what are you doing here?”

“We…can’t go back to our tent.” The girls sit down on Kanji’s abandoned sleeping bag, refusing to meet their eyes.

“You see, um, Kanji came in, and—“

“He burst in, and then he just passed out! R-right, Yukiko?”

Yukiko agrees, and Yosuke just looks over at Yu silently.

Yu raises his eyebrows. “...Just passed out. Mm.” But he allows it after letting them squirm under his gaze for a few seconds.

Souji looks around. "Where's Kaguya?”

“She decided to make herself a hammock, I think.”

“A…a hammock.” Both boys look at each other, and Chie reddens.

“Hey, she’s your sister, not mine!”

Souji frowns, Yu squints and makes the girls squirm some more before letting them off the hook again, getting a sigh of relief from Chie. “...All right. Everyone settle in, settle down, and go the fuck to sleep already."

“Okay, hold on. I’m not sleeping next to him.” Chie points at Yosuke, and Yosuke sits up, more than a little outraged.

“Hey, I’m not going to do anything!”

“Yeah, well, I still don’t trust you! I’d rather sleep next to Yu!”

"Yukiko, sleep next to Yosuke. Chie, sleep next to Yukiko." Yu’s audibly Done, but Chie is not.

“Why would I trust him around Yukiko if I won’t trust him around me?!”

Yu looks at Yukiko. "Yukiko, do you actually mind?"

“I—I mean…”

Yosuke groans. “Why does everyone think I’m some sort of perv?”

“I think we just had this discussion." Yu snorts at him. Souji groans and pushes his side. 

“The girls can sleep over here with me.”

“...Eh, that'll work. C'mon Yosuke, let's give them some space.”

Yosuke just scoots over more with a grumble. “Promise I don’t kick.”

“Good.”

 

June 18th, 2011

 

Yosuke is actually kind of glad that the trip is coming to an end. It’s been nothing but trouble, after all, and he can’t even go swimming with everyone. He can, at least, thank Kaguya for the curry last night, and she nods, looking almost a little bashful. That done, he stretches, then cocks his head. “So, you guys going swimming or what?”

“Nah, I’m not really a swimmer.” Kanji stretches and groans. “Besides, my back’s all messed up from sleeping in that hammock.”

“…Wait, wasn’t _Kaguya_ the one sleeping in a hammock last night?”

Yu and Souji look at each other while Kaguya shrugs, calmly, and Kanji seems to decide that this lack of back-up is adequate reason to panic. “Hey, nothing happened last night!”

“Dude, calm down!”

"...Nobody was implying anything, Kanji."

Souji mutters something about Kanji ending up snapped in half if something had, while Kaguya remains impassive. Kanji stares around, then huffs and crosses his arms. “You _better_ not have been.”

“Oookaay, now that _he’s_ done panicking…swimming? Any of you?”

“Eh, why not. River looks nice.” Yu stretches, and Souji nods, obviously glad to escape the subject. Kaguya shrugs, but she's eying the water.

“Uh—wait, we didn’t pack our swimsuits!”

“Way ahead of you.” Yosuke grabs the bag he’d set in the brush, then holds it out. “Here you go! Yu, you still have yours, right?” When Yu gives him a thumbs up, Yosuke grins. “Awesome. Then you guys go change, and I’ll wait here!”

“Wait, why aren’t you swimming?!”

“Uh, duh, robot? I don’t float, and I’ll probably short out.” Yosuke rolls his eyes, then shoos them. “Go on. I’ll wait here.”

Kanji comes out first, muttering something about not swimming but deciding to fit in and why did Yosuke give him trunks anyway. Yosuke just pats his back and takes his clothes, then looks over as Kaguya comes out of the trees.

“Oh, good, you like it. I wasn’t sure.” Kaguya just shrugs and rubs the back of her neck, but Yosuke grins nonetheless. He does notice that she’s picked up some scars, but all he does about that is make a note to keep a better eye on her.

Yu comes out next, followed by Souji. Yu is his typical straight-faced self, but Souji is so obviously embarrassed that Yosuke winces a bit.

That’s when Yukiko and Chie come out.

Yosuke’s eyes widen a bit, and he grins. “Dang, I thought you’d look good, but not _this_ good. What do you think, Yu? Did I nail it?”

Apparently Yosuke _did_ nail it, because Yu is nodding and _smiling. Politely._ “You both look great.” Souji agrees with a sweeter smile, and Kaguya just rolls her eyes at the sky.

Yosuke preens. “Guess those measurements were good for something.”

Chie is already flustered under the attention, blushing and mumbling, and when Yosuke speaks, her eyes flare. “What do you _mean_ those measurements?!”

“Huh?” Yosuke blinks. “Your measurements. They’re in my system now.”

“And just how did you get those?!”

“…Looking?”

“You were staring at my ass? And my chest?!”

Yosuke is kind of startled at how everything has turned from ‘I actually did something right for once’ to ‘I am the spawn of the devil,’ and Yu seems to agree with how his smile fades and he sighs through his nose. Kaguya is blinking dully at them all, and Souji, bless him, is the one to speak up in his defense. “...He's kind of a robot, Chie? He was probably just glancing at you, not…staring.”

“Yeah, I mean, knowing your height and approximate weight is how I can figure out who is who at a distance, and it’s not hard for me to extrapolate your waist and chest from that—“

“I don’t CARE! You don’t just DO THAT to a girl!”

“It’s not like I can _help_ it! It just happens!”

Souji, for his part, looks baffled. "...Why? It's not like it's all that important."

“NOT THAT IMPORTANT?!” Chie rounds on him and starts stalking forward. “I’LL SHOW YOU NOT THAT IMPORTANT!”

Souji skitters around Yu “I—uh—I’d rather you not!!”

Kaguya makes a move to grab Chie, but before she can, Yukiko pipes up, shrill and indignant. “Is your _nose_ bleeding?!”

Kanji claps a hand over his nose, but it’s too late—everyone can see the streaks of blood trailing over his upper lip. Yukiko shrieks and plants a hand on his chest, shoving him away.

Specifically, away over the edge of the cliff.

The sound of Kanji’s yell distracts both Yosuke and Kaguya, who manages a, “Yukiko, what the _hell—_?” before Souji’s yelp cuts her off.

Yosuke turns back to the brothers to see Yu’s utterly flat stare at the sky as he goes over the edge of the cliff. Chie looks self-satisfied, even as Yosuke shoves her aside to stare over the edge.

“…Okay, they’re all alive. At least. Cold, but alive—what’re they doing?”

The boys had gone from bobbing in the water to scrambling out in about three seconds, and Yosuke for the life of him can’t figure out _why_.

That’s when Chie and Yukiko went hurtling past his nose, making him jerk and nearly overbalance. Behind him, Kaguya snorts and dusts her hands while muttering something about nobody picking on Souji but her. Yosuke turns looks over his shoulder at her, then pauses and stares down the river.

“Dude, they didn’t deserve _that.”_

"They kinda did."

Except then Souji shouts at the girls "Get out of the river! Mooroka just hurled upstream!"

A beat.

"...But maybe not that."


	8. A Girl's Psychology

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which Yosuke Tries Not to be a Stalker and Somewhat Fails

June 2011

 

“So, did you guys hear? Risette’s moving to Inaba!”

Yosuke can’t keep the squee out of his voice as he slides into his usual seat in Junes’s food court, even as Kanji gives him a look somewhere between irritation and bafflement. Yu seems to be on board with his delight, judging by the glint in his eyes, but Kaguya is _not,_ judging by her swat upside Yosuke’s head. “She _retired_ to Inaba.”

“No, she took a _hiatus_ to Inaba.” Yosuke sticks his tongue out at her, then ducks a swat from Chie.

“It doesn’t matter! Aren’t we here to talk about our theory on why people are getting thrown into the TV?”

“Please?” Souji looked a little done, surprisingly.

“If I have to listen to another Risette song I'm gonna be sick,” added Kaguya. Yu has stopped looking delighted and started looking amused and mildly smug, and Yosuke gives him a slightly suspicious look before sighing. 

“Fine, fine.” With that, he frowns thoughtfully. “So, it looks like the link with Ms. Yamano is just…too tenuous to use, and the female thing has been totally nixed.”

“Yeah, since Kanji got thrown in…” Chie frowned, then sighed. “We’ve gotta be overlooking something, but there aren’t any other connections, are there?”

“Wait…I just remembered something!” Surprisingly, it’s _Kanji_ who speaks up, slapping one hand on the table. “My mom said when Councilman Namatame was fired, he came back to Inaba to run his family’s shop.”

Yukiko’s eyes lit up at that. “I heard the same thing. Isn’t he a deliveryman now?”

“He was having a fling with Miss Yamano, right? No wonder Mr. Handsy got kicked off the council.”

“Yeah, but I heard he had a tight alibi.” Yosuke frowned, looking over at the Narukamis. “What do you guys think?”

Souji frowns, thoughtfully. “The deliveryman...? He doesn't seem…" He makes a vague gesture. “...Vicious enough.”

Kaguya snorts. “Never do. Besides, tight alibi is easy to get around when magical TV worlds are involved.”

Yu looks down, tapping his foot, then shakes his head. “We'd need more actual proof on him. Besides, as far as we know, even with the TV World, the distance should take him out of the running.”

“Well, who _else_ is there?”

“Wait a second.” Yosuke’s head snaps around to look at Yukiko. “I just thought of a way to connect everyone. Remember how Miss Yamano appeared on the news when they released the story about her affair? And when Saki found her body, they put her on the news too!”

“Oh, I get it.” He only vaguely recalls this stuff, but it was back before he really started watching the news. “There is a connection—you did an interview on the murders as well.”

“And wasn’t Kanji on the news for that biker gang?”

“Oh, yeah.” Kanji blinks. “But it’s not like the media made it out to be.”

Souji’s tone is kind and understanding. “We know. Wait..." He sits forward, eyes wide. “You're saying...people who end up on the news...are the targets?”

Kaguya makes a comment about paparazzi under her breath but it's lost as Yu straightens, thinking. "It would fit,” he says, after a second, nodding. “It's a much stronger connection than just to the first murder. More in line with a serial killer than someone covering up his tracks...which, since they all have the same M.O. anyway…”

“...Makes perfect sense,” Kaguya finishes, flumping back in her chair and scowling. “Great. A TV Jack the Ripper. Just what we needed.”

“Yeah…wait.” Yosuke looks over at Yu. “Who’s been on the news recently?”

There's a pause before all three siblings look at each other with a triple-mirrored 'oh shit' expression.

“Risette,” they all say in unison.

“Exactly. …Which means we’re going to need to find her.”

“I think I know where her grandmother’s shop is.” Yosuke glances over at Yukiko, who nods solidly. “Marukyu. We carry their tofu at the inn.”

“Then I guess it’s time to stakeout the tofu shop!”

***

They didn’t make it to the tofu shop that day, but the rain gives them a good chance to check the Midnight Channel. The person on the screen was definitely Rise, no matter _what_ Chie says. He is _plenty_ capable of recognizing people, _thank_ you.

Fortunately, Yu agrees with him. Souji and Kaguya do as well, but they look rather less eager than their brother, and Yosuke has to suppress his laughter at their dour faces. “Jeez, Yu, have you been playing her songs on constant repeat or something?”

"Yes", Kaguya snaps.

"S-since she first started.” Souji groans.

Yu has the gall to look smug about it, and Yosuke has to cover his mouth as a snort breaks free. “I’m sorry, I just— _wow,_ Yu. I’m with you, but _wow._ You’re a braver man than me.”

Yu shoves his hands in his pockets, managing to beam with pride without smiling. His siblings continue to not share his upbeat attitude, and Yosuke decides to change the topic to something a little safer. “So, we gathering up the gang now?”

Yu nods and starts plodding off in the right direction.Yosuke glances around, then remembers that Chie and Yukiko were at the faculty office and hurried after him, texting Kanji to meet them.

***

“Okay, so remember—this is strictly for the investigation. We can’t get hung up on trying to meet Rise or saying hi—“

“Uh-huh, and who’re you trying to convince—us or yourself?” Yosuke gives Kanji a quick glare, then looks back to the front and crosses his arms.

“It’s just a reminder! Jeez. Just…act cool, okay?”

It seems that they aren’t the only ones who need to remember to chill. The outside of the tofu shop is positively _crawling_ with paparazzi, of both the professional and the amateur type. They wait around the corner, just out of sight, and Yosuke huffs. “Man, there’s a bunch of freaky fans hanging around.”

Kaguya snorts and straightens. "I got this.”

“…Uh, Kaguya, we can’t just punch them like Shadows.”

"Who said punch?” Yosuke frowns at her, but she’s already parting the gawkers like Moses through sheer rancor, and he needs to keep up or get squashed as the Red Sea crashes back together.

"That explains how you always got through Tokyo in one piece,” Souji mumbles when they make it through. Kaguya snorts and holds the door open for the smaller boys.

“…Y’know, I could’ve used you in middle school. Even back then rush hour was hell.” Yosuke slips inside after Souji, keeping both head and voice down. “And it took a while for me to actually get a growth spurt going.”

All three silver haired siblings pause and look down at Yosuke.

Pointedly looking _down_.

“…Okay, point taken, and I want you to picture this happening with even _less_ of me.”

Souji sympathetically pats his shoulder as his brother ventures further into the store. Kaguya snorts, softly, closing the door behind her.

Souji is officially his favorite.

The shop is surprisingly dark. It’s not a problem for Yosuke so much—he can see in pretty much any lighting—but the others might be having problems. He turns to check on them, then spots Kanji still outside, staring at something on the door. “…Kanji?”

“…They’re out of tofu.”

“Wha—aw, man!” Yosuke slumps. “But we were just about to meet—I mean, we need to check on Rise!”

Kaguya scowls at the door, then at the crowd still outside as she pulls Kanji in and shuts the door again. Souji frowns, softly. "...That is unfortunate."

Yu just shrugs. "Well, it's not like that stops us from trying to warn her. We just have to be quick.”

“…Good point.” Yosuke glanced around, then raises his voice a bit. “Uhm, excuse me?”

There’s a moment of quiet, in which Yosuke wonders if there is anyone actually here. Then someone comes through the curtain that blocks off the back, and he blinks.

“Look, didn’t you guys see the sign out front? We’re out—the tofu is gone.”

Rise is…actually kind of smaller than he expected. Still cute, but Yosuke could probably set his chin on her head no problem. She also looks worn out, which he can’t blame her for and feels guilty for making worse.

But on the other hand, he’s meeting Risette! And it is hard for him to avoid squeeing as he says. “We just wanted to…talk to you?”

He glances at the Narukamis. Souji seems to be blinking for much the same reason as he is, while Yu has the grace to look dignified instead of excited, nodding. "We're sorry to disturb you, miss, but this is kind of important.”

Kaguya glances over her shoulder at the door. "And not the same way those creepers outside think it's important. _Right_ , boys?"

"Of course not,” says Yu. "That'd be rude. _Right_ , Yosuke?”

“Oh, shut up!” Yosuke glares at Yu, then looks at Rise. “We’re not here for your autograph or your picture or anything.”

Rise frowns, eyeing them up and down, understandably suspicious. Yu puts up his hands, placating. “Promise. We'll be out of here fast.”

After another second, Rise sighs, crossing her arms. "...Okay. What is it?”

“…We think you’re in danger.” Yosuke does his best to sound confident, and to his credit, his voice doesn’t fall and he doesn’t look away. “You’re probably going to think we’re nuts, but we’ve got good reason to.”

Rise blinks at him. Then gestures outside the door, expression flat. "I noticed."

"No, not them." Yu shook his head and stepped up. "You've heard of the kidnappings going around town, right?"

She blinks. "What, the murders?”

"...Well. Yes. I more meant the kidnappings after those."

She frowns, slowly. "....Nnnno. I haven't had a lot of time to check the local news.”

“A bunch of people have gotten kidnapped here recently.” Kanji crosses his arms. “I was one of ‘em. And you might be next.”

"Is that a threat?"

It suddenly seems to occur to Souji how creepy most of her fans must be. "No, no." He holds his hands up, but unlike his brother he actually seems fairly stressed. "Not us, ma'am. We were just thinking...with all of the hullabaloo going on about you coming here, whoever's doing it might uh...might take advantage of it?"

"'Cause they're opportunistic assholes,” Kaguya adds flatly, getting her a surprised look from the former idol and a mildly exasperated one from Yu.

If Rise actually took offense at the swearing, however, it isn’t noticeable. She leans back and thinks, lips pouting slightly as she stews before looking up again. "...Right. Thanks then, I guess.”

“…Can we, uh…hang around?” Now Yosuke’s beginning to sound uncertain again. “If…if it is actually the same person, we might be able to spot them. Maybe.”

Rise pauses, glancing over him. Very faintly, a small smile forms on her face. "Thank you for worrying about me", she said. "But no, thank you. That's what the police are for, right?" She glances around. "...Still. One second?"

She vanishes back behind the curtain for a few moments before coming back out with a few small tofu snacks. "We were waiting for the crowds to thin out before opening back up so...here. For your trouble."

Yu blinks before taking the food from her, a rare smile gracing his own features. "...Thank you, miss.”

“…Yeah, you didn’t have to. We kinda barged in and everything.” Yosuke bites his lip, then adds, “Be careful, okay?”

Rise's smile has faded, but she nodded all the sam, and Yosuke smiles uncertainly.

“Thanks. …Uh, have a good day at school, yeah?” With that, Yosuke slips out the door, still chewing on his lip.

Of course, once they have made it through the sea of gawkers once more, Kaguya scowling all the while and Kanji, having taken her example, scowling to keep the rear clear as well, is when they're jumped by said police.

Or, rather, bumped, because Adachi nearly runs Yosuke over. “Oh, hey. Didn’t peg you guys for Risette fans—I hope you haven’t been bothering her!”

Given Kanji's falling out with the police, Kaguya's demeanor, and that one time at Junes, one would expect the Narukamis to react poorly to Adachi, but they instead all perk a little, if looking varying levels of sheepish. “O-of course not, Adachi!” Souji manages. “We just uh—“

“Wanted to welcome her.” Yu shrugs, pocketing his hands (and the snacks). “Given all the commotion, we thought she could use a _normal_ welcome to the neighborhood.”

“Yeah, what he said.” Yosuke does his best to imitate Yu’s calm, and half-succeeds. “She’s pretty chill, all told.”

“Oh, well, that’s good.” Adachi gives Kanji a quick once-over, but when Kanji responds with a scoff and a glare, the detective quickly looks back at Yu. “So, uh, did you see anyone suspicious while you were there?”

"Suspicious? No, I wouldn't think so." Yu frowns a little deeper than normal. "Why, have you heard something?”

"Uh, maybe? There's been rumors of a stalker around, and we want to keep an eye out for him."

Yosuke's eyebrows shoot up, and he glances over at the Narukamis. _You think…?_

Yu frowns. "I see. Well, no, I'm afraid we didn't see anything."

While Yu's talking, Souji shoots a glance back at Yosuke. _Oh, dear._

"Ah, well. Keep an eye out, okay? And if you see anything, let us know."

Yosuke sighs through his nose. _Pretty much._

***

Adachi might be on the case, but somehow, Yosuke doesn’t think the bumbling detective will be able to find the stalker. To that end, the next day, they all go out again to keep an eye on her again.

Or, at least, that was what Yosuke thought the plan was. Kanji doesn’t seem so sure. “…I don’t understand—what’re we stalking this girl for?”

_“Because,_ if we stay in the shadows like this, then maybe we can find the guy who’s after her! Be looking for suspicious characters.”

Yosuke’s plan did not last long. The moment Rise steps out of the building, Yu left the huddled mass of friends to go talk to her.

Obviously satisfied with the plan that she and her siblings must have come up with, Kaguya nods and slips off, while Souji gently plucks at Yosuke's shirt. "He's got this. He told us he'd escort her around down and talk with her some, so she doesn't feel. Well. Stalked.”

“Oh. Well. That works. So…what’re we doing? Keeping an eye on the shop?”

"We're going to go _not_ give creeper vibes. Kaguya has the first shift, she's gonna call when it's someone else's turn.”

“Ok.” They could do that. “And we’ll…I guess…hang out?”

“...Y-yeah."

“Cool.” Yosuke scratches his head, looking down. “Wanna…go for a walk? Or something?”

Souji smile got just the tiniest bit brighter. “Sure."

They end up walking the river for several hours, talking about just about everything. It’s not until the sun is going down that they get a text, interrupting Yosuke mid-rant about how his controller cords need to stop fraying.

It's Kaguya, making the most bored looking selfie as some creepy kid behind her is shoved into a police car.

"Seems harmless, but hey, one less creep.”

Yosuke blinks, then shows the phone to Souji. Souji blinks, and then sighs. “Well, that’s...something."

“I guess so? Not what we were going for, probably, but we can try again tomorrow, right?

“Right."

Yosuke sighs, then shoots Souji a quick grin. “So…want to go grab dinner and pummel each other senseless in Brawl?”

Souji's smile is one again brighter than normal. "Sounds great, man."

“Awesome.” Yosuke’s grin grows. “And hey, I promise I can at least cook better than the girls. You sister excepted, of course."

Souji can't help but laugh a little at that, something that makes Yosuke’s heart swell. “Awesome. So, curry work?”

“Definitely."

The curry, as it turns out, is delicious, even with Yosuke’s difficulty with taste. The warm flavor stays with him, and warms him even after Souji’s gone. Part of him tries to question it, but the rest quashes that bit. He’s _allowed_ to have good feelings without overthinking them.

Besides, Rise’s Shadow is on the Midnight Channel, and that’s kind of putting a damper on things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may notice that all the chapters have been renamed. That's half because I wanted this to be an actual playlist, and half because I found a brilliant name for a future chapter.


	9. Clear the Stage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which Things Go Very Wrong.  
> As always, help from whatisthisnonsense.

 

June 2011

 

On the one hand, Yosuke is…intrigued. He does still think like a human boy, after all, and seeing something attractive to him _did_ make him want to see more.

And Risette was _definitely_ attractive, especially when she was offering to strip.

But on the other hand, he feels kind of gross for watching. The girl he’d met yesterday wouldn’t want this—never mind that it was her Shadow, and therefore was something she was repressing—and he didn’t really want to be a voyeur, besides.

No matter how cute the girl was.

With a soft sigh, he pulls out his phone and dials Yu. “Dude…she said _strip_ , right?”

"Yep. This is going to be a mess.”

"I don't think mess is the right word." Yosuke grimaces. "I feel...kinda gross now."

“Same."

"Ok, glad to not be alone. So, we going in tomorrow?”

"Yep. See you then.”

***

There’s an air of gloom over the table as the Investigation Team gathers. Or, at least, there’s an air of gloom over Yosuke, which means there’s going to be at least a little gloom over everyone else, even if they’re ignoring it.

However, they can’t ignore the gloom that has apparently driven Teddie to his hands and knees. They all look at each other, and Yu asks, “Teddie? What’s wrong?”

“You were having fun and forgot all about me.” Teddie’s voice is wobbly and strained. “You abandoned me.”

Yukiko, ever the obvious one, is the one to ask, “You get lonely?”

“Yes, and I became a very gloomy bear.”

Yosuke sighs, not prepared to deal with this. “Yeah, yeah, cut the crap—“

“Did you call my feelings crap!?”

Teddie doesn’t even have time to get fully upset; the Stern Hand Of Kaguya had already fallen hard on the back of Yosuke's head, sending him stumbling forward with a yelp

Souji ignores the commotion behind him and kneels, sitting Teddie back upright. "We're sorry, Teddie. We should really come visit when there isn't an emergency, huh?"

Yu sighs. "Unfortunately, can't be helped now.”

“…Yeah. Sorry.” Yosuke rubs the back of his head, resisting the urge to glare at Kaguya. He _did_ deserve that. “Uh…if you want to spend more non-emergency time with us, you could help us find Rise Kujikawa?”

Teddie blinks. “…Rise Kujikawa?”

***

As it turns out, Teddie knows exactly where Rise was. Yosuke spends a long time staring at the dungeon, then turns to look at Souji. “…Uh…”

He isn’t going to get the reassurance he was hoping for—the Narukamis are no better off. Souji has paled significantly, lips pursed in a thin line, Yu stares blankly ahead, clearly doing his best to tune the whole thing out, and Kaguya has already covered Teddie's eyes. "Kaga-chan, c'mon!" The bear flails. "I can't see!"

“Good," she intones, flatly.

“Yeah. Uh. I think I’d rather the bathhouse.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Kanji rounds on Yosuke, and he holds up his hands defensively.

“It’s _supposed_ to mean that I was almost more distracted by the fact I was malfunctioning because of that stupid steam!”

Yu quietly walks around and stands between the two. "Stop." He sighs and shakes his head, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Let's just...get this over with.”

Yosuke blinks over at Yu. He’s never seen him like this, and to be frank, it’s a little worrying. “You ok, man?”

"Yes, just very exasperated.”

“All right. Just…if you need a bit or something…”

"No, let's just go.”

The inside is…interesting, to say the least. Dark, with lots of pink neon, and a sense of uneasy excitement that had Yosuke hopping slightly as they walked. This was the sort of place he _wanted_ to be excited for, but the circumstances made it impossible.

Behind him, he can still hear Kaguya and Teddie bickering slightly, and decides to use that as a distraction.

"R-really, can't I see? Please? One little peek?"

"Nope."

"Kaga-chaaaaaan...you know, I'm beary useless like this."

"Do you need your eyes to sniff around?"

"...Well...no..."

"Then you don't need to see."

Teddie gives a protesting squeak that sounded surprisingly like a bear cub squawking, but sputters and fails to find any further words.

Yosuke turns around, walking backward for a moment. “He’s going to see anyway, Kaguya—you’re going to need your hands to fight.”

Kaguya stares blankly at him. A card flickers into existence by her face before shattering.

Mrtyu-mara stares blankly at him.

Yosuke just raises an eyebrow and waggles his knives. “Unless you’re telekinetic now?”

Kaguya continues to stare blankly at him.

Mrtyu-mara leans down to flick the robot, lightly.

Yosuke rolls his eyes. “Just don’t get squashed while carting the bear around, ok?”

"Don't make me turn this party around,” Yu calls from the front.

Human and persona both snort before Mrtyu-mara explodes into a cloud of blue butterflies and vanishes.

They come out of the long hallway into a larger circular room, with a pole in the center. The room is barely lit by the pink lights, and Yosuke glances around uneasily, then jumps as a distorted voice comes over a hidden intercom.

**_“Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome! Let me guide you through this sparkling world of wonder!”_**

The room stays dark for a moment. Then a spotlight appears over the stage, and _six_ Rises rise out of the stage. Everything from lolita to sports to a scientist are represented, and Yosuke can feel his eyes getting bigger, knives hanging limply at his sides. “…Okay, not that I don’t exactly appreciate this, but if we have to fight _six_ of her—“

"I don't see the real one,” Yu whispers back. "Hopefully this is just for show.”

“ _Hopefully.”_

Another figure rises out of the stage in silhouette, making Yosuke tense. **_“This show is called Risette’s Dynamite Body!”_** Another spotlight floods the stage revealing it to be the Rise from the Midnight Channel, who turns and gives them a saucy wink. **_“Are. You. All. Ready?”_**

“…Uh.” Yosuke isn’t certain if he should be entranced or if he should run, and he once again glances at the Narukamis for once-again denied reassurance.

Souji slowly drops his face into his hands, sword still sheathed and shield clunking slightly on his head. He hardly seems to notice. Yu only manages a blink, which Yosuke can’t blame him for. Kaguya, meanwhile, is as snarky as she ever has been. "Am I justified now?”

"What, what's happening?" Teddie attempts to get her hands off his eyes, to no avail.

“I…would say yes, but if we have to fight all six, you are _letting the bear go_.” Yosuke stares for another moment, then shakes his head. “This is…surreal.”

“Understatement,” Souji mumbles.

**_“Are you ignoring me?”_ ** Something dangerous sparkles in her eyes, and Yosuke snaps straight, knives creaking in his grip.

“Uh, n-no! Promise!”

**_“Good! I’d hate to go to all this trouble for nothing!”_ ** She gives another wink, then leans forward. **_“Today, I’m here to bare everything to you all! What, do you think that’s a fibby-wibby?”_** The Shadow chuckles. **_“Well, you’ll have to find out all for yourself if I’m telling a lie or telling the truth. You’re about to meet the. Real. Me!”_**

As the Shadow goes to the pole and begins to dance to sudden music, Kanji finally speaks up. “Uh…I hope mine wasn’t like this.”

“…It kinda was, dude. And it was definitely more awkward.”

Souji mumbles again, "Speak for yourself. This is painful to watch."

Yu manages another baffled blink.

Kanji just slumps. “Man, this is brutal.”

**_“Hm.”_** The music cuts out, and the Shadow sniffs. **_“Talk about a dead crowd. Well, then, maybe it’s time I bring out our special guest.”_** As everyone glances at each other, the Shadow grins. **_“Today’s special guest is…Rise Kujikawa!”_**

And out of nowhere, Rise appears, still in the outfit she was wearing at the tofu shop as she sits hands-and-knees on the floor. The atmosphere goes from awkward to tense as everyone starts a half-step forward, but Rise just bows her head. “Stop it. That’s enough!”

“Rise!” Yu’s voice starts them all forward, but a group of Shadows descends from the ceiling, stopping them in their tracks. The main Shadow speaks again, looking pouty.

**_“Listen up, guests! Remember your manners and refrain from touching the dancers at all times.”_**

The Shadows open fire, and they dive for cover. Kaguya has finally released Teddie, but she, Chie, and Yu are behind various columns. Souji and Kanji, thankfully, thought to overturn a table for themselves and Yukiko, and while Yosuke doesn’t entirely fit, Souji has his shield arm out to cover the bits that stick out.

Yosuke keeps his head curled down to keep the top from getting shot off. As soon as the gunfire stops, he jumps up, Howori appearing behind him to shower the Shadows with fire of his own. It’s ineffective, as is Chie’s follow-up of ice, but Yosuke and Kanji find that their weapons cut through the Shadows like butter.

Unfortunately, more just appear.

“Are you _kidding_ me?!”

They were not. Not about the Shadow hordes, and not about the bolt of lightning that the Shadow Rises conjures and hurls. Souji yelps as it bounced off his shield, and everyone dives for cover once more.

**_"I SAID no TOUCHING!"_** The main Shadow clicked her tongue in irritation. **_"What rude guests!”_**

“No way! This isn’t real!” Yosuke edges around Souji’s shield to see the real Rise covering her ears. Her Shadow cocks its head, then approaches her.

**_“Oh, but it is. You wanted people to notice you.”_** The Shadow takes up the pole again, grinning an almost manic grin. **_“Lookie lookie, everyone come look at me!”_**

“Stop it!” Rise closes her eyes and turns away. “You’re wrong! No, that isn’t me at all!”

The Shadow’s grin disappears. **_“You don’t think so, huh? Then just who is the real you?”_**

The Rise clones disappear, then reappear in a circle around the real Rise, giggling in unpleasant, eerie harmony. **_“Well? Who is the real you?”_**

“The real me…” Even if Yosuke can’t see her anymore, he can hear how dead she’s gone.“The real me…is just…”

“All right, _screw this!”_ Yosuke jumps as Kanji leaps up. “Get out of our way!” A card appears in front of him, and as he shatters it, one of the most massive Personas Yosuke’s ever seen appears.

A moment later, the multitude of Shadows disappears in one punch. “Come _on!”_

"Good work, Kanji!” Yu shouts as he hops out of cover. “We have a break, everyone, move it or lose it!"

Izanagi, Mrtyu-mara, and Jiraya all burst into being with the shattering of cards and the fluttering of butterflies, lightning and wind in their wake.

The others are not too far behind, and as the group rushes the stage, for a moment, it almost looks like they might manage to stop the proceedings before Rise uttered the fatal words.

**_“So you still haven’t said who is the real Rise.”_**

“I don’t know! I don’t know who the real me is!” Yosuke feels his metal gut twist in sympathy, even as he vaults a chair.

**_“I’ll tell you. I am the real Rise. You see, I am you, and you are me.”_**

“You’re wrong! You’re not me!”

Yosuke skids to a stop, gritting his teeth, but surprisingly, the Shadow keeps going. **_“I’m sick and tired of putting on a fake smile and always having to play the flirt. Watch closely now, and you’ll see the real me.”_** The Shadow reaches up and unties her bikini top, making Yosuke clench his eyes shut.  
“That’s not true—you can’t be…” Rise folds in on herself, then yells, “You are not the real me!”

**_“Here it comes!”_ ** A cloud of steam and darkness obscures the Shadow just as Yosuke’s eyes pop open. When it clears, a giant technicolor satellite-faced hooker-thing is hanging off the pole. 

Yosuke can’t be blamed for staring gormlessly, but that is nearly his undoing as the Shadow goes from hanging off the pole to wielding it like a giant bat. Fortunately, Chie is not staring, and grabs him as Yu yells, "Bail to the right!" The group dodges and scatters just as the pole comes down, electric sparks flying.

A whimper comes from the doorway, a pair of blue eyes peeking at the fray. "Stay back, bear cub!" Kaguya shouts towards it, her Persona roaring behind her as it slashes in the air.

For two seconds, the blow looks like it may hit. Then the Shadow flickers and vanishes, reappearing beside Souji. With a yelp, Souji holds up his shield, and Jiraya throws up a barrier of wind; this softens the blow enough that they only skid.

There’s a flurried shuffle of Persona from Yu before Queen Mab snatches his brother and Jiraya, bringing them to a halt. Yosuke lets out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, then leaps into the air, Howori raining fire down on the Shadow. The flames hit the floor as the Shadow seemingly splits in two, and Yosuke has a half second to realize he had followed the wrong one with his fire before something slams into his leg.

The part of his mind that is not focused on the alarms screaming about coolant and oil and everything else sighed in exasperation. Then the wall abruptly stops his pinwheeling, and he slides down it to land with a crash next to a very frightened bear.

“Yosuk—" Kaguya's shout of alarm is cut short as the Shadow materializes behind her, pole slamming into her and her Persona. Mrtyu-mara vanishes in a scream and explosion of blue butterflies, and Kaguya drops to her knees with a wet-sounding cough. 

Before the Shadow could bring the pole down again, Izanagi cuts in, blocking the blade as Jiraya and Souji both rush to Kaguya's side. It doesn't last, however—an explosion of blinding light and cackling electricity bursts forth from the Shadow, sending Izanagi flying and cutting Jiraya apart with its own winds. They too burst into blue butterflies as Souji and Yu both stumble and fell.

Yosuke swears and tries to get up, but the fact that one leg is hanging by wires and a half-severed tube means that he sinks back with a groan. He can hear Chie trying to help, and Yukiko’s shriek as her friend is batted across the room, and Kanji’s roar as he tries and fails to land a hit, and panic crawls up his throat. “Shit. _Shit_. Ted—get me a table leg, I’ve got to get up—“

“I—“

His answer is swallowed up by another explosion and hateful crackling, this time enveloping the whole room and answered by the teams pained cries.

_“Now_ , Teddie!”

The bear flinches. Yu coughs from where he’s buried in the wall. “There’s--there's no point, Yosuke. You're not gonna be able to fight like—“ He gives another wet hack.

Souji wheezes, Jiraya flickering in and out of existence as he tries to cast and fails.

Kaguya tries to use one of the splintered tables to pull herself up, only for it to splinter under her weight and send her once more on the ground, breath heaving.

“Someone has to try!” Yosuke’s voice cracks, mechanical in his panic. “We can’t— _you_ can’t—“

Yu is silent except for his pained breathing for a moment. When he speaks, it’s resigned, but still an order. “You two have to get out of here.”

Yosuke looks at his leg, then shakes his head, panic replaced by dead-eyed clarity. “…I’m not going anywhere, Yu. Not…not like this.” Yosuke grimaces. “Ted, go. Get out of here.”

Teddie looks around with wide eyes, shaking. “B-but—"

“ _Run,_ ” Yu insists. "You still got a chance, Teddie. _Go_.”

Teddie looks down at Yosuke, who gives him a gentle shove. Then both of their heads snap around as the Shadow cackles.

**_“Talk about lame! I think the time has finally come to get rid of you once and for all.”_** Despite its size, the Shadow makes little sound as she saunters toward them, and Yosuke grits his teeth. 

Then Rise speaks up, scrambling out of some of the destroyed seats. “Stop it! That’s enough, okay? Just let them be!”

The Shadow almost growls as she turns on its original. **_“You annoying bitch! You wanna go first!”_** Then she twitches, and turns. **_“What?”_**

Yosuke can’t blame her. Something is _happening_ to Teddie, something that even his sensors can’t quite suss out. Light is gathering around him, wild and uncontrolled, and the bear is starting to walk forward. “I’m not gonna let you hurt them!”

**_“What? Why is it—“_**

Teddie roars, and even in his high-pitched voice, it’s a little intimidating. The bear goes from a walk to a full on run, and the light just gets brighter. “I’m going _bearzerk_!”

Lightning falls on the bear, but he either doesn’t feel it or ignores it. The Shadow stumbles back, raising her bat in a futile gesture. Then Teddie slams into her face, and the world disappears in a flash of light.

When it recoalesces, Yosuke can tell from their signatures that the human members of the team find the pain has...stopped. The tiredness has vanished from their bones, the blood is no longer in their mouths.

Which is good, because it would be hard for Kaguya to screech Teddie's name in panic as she finally finds her feet and scrambles forth to where the Shadow and Bear appear to have exploded.

Yosuke's leg, however, has not reattached, getting a grumble from the robot as he pushes himself more upright. “Hey, is the bear alive?”

Yu's face is grim as he picks Yosuke up and carries him over to where the team was gathering, and Yosuke braces himself for the worst.

However, as they draws closer, it becomes clear Kaguya is cradling...something.

"Did...Did I win?" comes a familiar, if raspy, squeak from her arms.

"Yeah." She swipes at her eyes. "Yeah. You did great, bear cub."

Yu makes no noise, but his shoulders sag with relief as he sees two little blue feet wiggle and set on the ground out of Kaguya's lap...and then blinks as the rest of Teddie came into view.

“...Yikes."

“…He’s…uh…flat.” Yosuke leans hard on Yu, biting his lip as he tries not to laugh. “Very flat.”

"Wha--?" Teddie looks down and suddenly realized his state. He lets out a comical shriek. "My fur!! My beautiful fur, nooooooo!"

A relieved laugh spreads through out the group as Teddie carries on; yeah, he was just fine.

Yosuke’s the first to stop laughing as he catches sight of the Shadow laying on the ground, and he gestures at Rise. “Hey, go talk to her.”

“Huh?”

“Yeah.” Teddie smiles, even as he wobbles around. “I know it’s scary not knowing who you are, but we can figure it out together! You’re not alone.”

“…Together?”

“Yeah, you and I.” Teddie wobbles the other way, and Yosuke reaches out to steady him. “And you have Sensei, and Kaga-chan, and everyone else!”

Rise looks up at them, then bows her head. “I’m sorry I put all of you through this.”

“Not your fault. We’ve all got something like that inside us. …Well, except the Narukamis, but they’re _special._ ” Yosuke grins over at Kaguya, then sobers. “Seriously, though. Just…go talk to her. You need to.”

Rise looks at them each in turn, then nods. When she stands, Yosuke can see her wobble a bit, but she steadies herself to look down at her Shadow. “I’m so sorry.” She pauses, then kneels. “Look, I…I fought so hard just to try to figure out who the real me truly is. But then I realized—no amount of searching was going to help because there was no real me to find.”

“…Does that mean there’s no real me, either?” Yosuke glances down at Teddie, but before he can say anything, Rise continues.

“But now I know that Risette, you—everyone—you’re all part of me.” The Shadow smiles, then fades into a blue-lit Persona that Rise stands to greet. The Persona vanishes as quickly as it had appeared, and Rise wobbles and begins to fall.

Yosuke winces as he is dropped, then leans back on his elbows and watches as Yu catches Rise and begins to fuss over her. “…Thank God that’s over.”

That’s when something pings on his sensors, something big and scary. He looks up, then swallows. “Uh—guys—“

**_“There is no real me.”_**

The group turns to see a gigantic version of Teddie standing there behind the real version, still and now dead-eyed in addition to flat. **_“No true self.”_**

Teddie turns, then goes stiff as a board. “What the heck is _that?!”_

“That is a Shadow and we really should be getting out of here. Like, yesterday.” Yosuke swallows. “I’ve never seen something on this level.”

“Aw, balls.” Kanji takes a step back. 

“Is that Teddie’s other self?” Chie’s voice cracks, and the Shadow laughs.

**_“Such idiotic foolishness!”_** Shadow Teddie explodes into white fog, and Yosuke covers his face as it spreads through the room. **_“They say the truth will always be shrouded in fog.”_**

A gigantic clawed paw cleaves through the fog, revealing a gigantic cracked version of Teddie’s head. The ground heaved as the Shadow clawed at it, and the group scattered, leaving Yosuke to scramble back as best he could. **_“I am a Shadow of your true inner self. Try though you may to find meaning, you will never know for sure if it’s the truth, or a lie.”_**

"Shit shit shit—“ Kaguya scrambles to get the real Teddie, only for the giant Shadow to send blades of ice her way. She dives to the side just in time.

Souji is more successful in retrieving Yosuke, picking him up like he was light as a feather and scrambling to get away from the claws. "How could—something like THAT—?!”

"Let's not question it and be more concerned with surviving!" Yu steps back, Rise behind him, squinting and scowling over the icy waste the demonic bear doll was swiftly turning the strip club into.

Rise very gently grips his arm. Softly, she mutters only one word: "Himiko."

There was the shattering of a card and the crack of lighting striking the Shadow's paw, making it recoil and roar. Yu looks up to see a white-coated black figure with streaming red hair standing over him. Yosuke blinks—they almost wouldn't have recognized it, if it weren't for the satellite it has for a face and the long microphone-like staff it’s holding in its hand. Yu glances down at Rise.

Rise smiles softly. "I hope you don't mind I start making up for getting you all into this _now_."

"...No, can't say I do."

In a flash of blue butterflies, Izanagi joined Himiko, lighting dancing around the two dangerously as the Shadow loomed.

“…All right, people.” Yosuke sits up in Souji’s grip, then lays his hands on his headphones. “Healers, stay back. Kanji, Kaguya—you take point. Let’s get this over with fast.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is Himiko as she stands now (her Ultimax form): https://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/megamitensei/images/b/b3/Ulti_Himiko.png/revision/latest?cb=20140424155851
> 
> Also, a challenge for you all. Who is Mrtyu-mara, and why is she Kaguya's persona?


	10. Blue Skied an' Clear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which Yosuke Navigates And Comes to a Realization  
> As always, cowritten by whatisthisnonsense

 

Yosuke is still a half-broken robot, but the half that is broken right now doesn’t matter. Souji’s fixed enough of his sensors that he can tell whether the Shadow is increasing or decreasing in energy, and since that tends to be a good proxy for whether or not a Shadow is going to try to obliterate them, he’ll take it.

His eyes are already closed, and his hands stay on his headphones to keep himself from reaching for his knives. “Souji, put me down against the wall. You’re going to need to be able to dodge—you and Yukiko are going to need to heal so Yu can focus on offense with Kanji and Kaguya. This is going to be a race. We have to put out more damage than we take.”

Souji doesn't argue. He sets him down, gently, and goes to join Yukiko, getting a nod from the girl as she settles next to a column.

Kaguya looks frantic, clearly looking around for the real bear, but Rise herself leans out from where she's leaning on Yu to put a hand on her shoulder. There's no words, but a smile from the idol and a beat from the brute before Kaguya grits her teeth and squares her shoulders.

Yosuke takes this all in distantly. His focus is on the abstract, on numbers that represent life and energy and whether or not they’re going to die in the next ten seconds. “Ok, Kaguya, Kanji, hit it hard!”

There is a crackle of electricity and the roar of thunder in the air, followed by the angered, pained bellow of the Shadow. Yosuke nods to himself, eyes flicking from one figure to the next.

“Okay, that’s—shit. Get out of there, now!” The Shadow is lighting up like a shrine festival in his vision, and even with his leg useless, his servos are trying to fire. “Incoming, and it’s going to be a big one!”

“ ** _Why even bother seeking the truth at all? How can you possibly find something when you don’t even know what you’re looking for?“_** The Shadow’s paw rears back, black energy running the length of it. Yu scoops up Rise as the group scatters to avoid being hit. Souji and Yukiko send weakening spells and buffering spells flying in every direction to try to cover their friends and hamper their foe. Chie looks like she’s going to ignore Yosuke’s order, but Kanji yanks her back at the last second, both barely avoiding being squashed by the great paw as it swipes past them, knocking them back a few feet from the wind.

"We follow every lead!", Yu shouts over the din from his hiding spot, Izanagi bursting into existence and throwing its own bolt of lightning at the monstrous ursine. "And we keep following them and eliminating every dead end until we find it!”

The Shadow roars again, then speaks, voice just as flat as it has ever been. “ ** _You are dogs, chasing every scent you can find. Soon, you will run out of time, and the most important trails will go cold_**.“

“Ignore it, guys. It’s just trying to freak us out.” Yosuke’s fingers drum on his headphones. “It’s going to need a minute to charge up again—hit it hard!”

“Way ahead of you!” Kanji’s already leaping forward, Take-Mikazuchi right behind with an overpowered punch that hits the Shadow in the eye while Kanji bounces off of the shattered remains of its forehead. The Shadow roars again, and Yosuke flinches as a secondary signature flares inside the Shadow.

“What the—that’s not just Teddie’s Shadow there!”

“What?” Chie dodges a flailing swipe, then lashes out with her own kick. “Something _else_ is in here?”

“Yeah.” Yosuke taps his fingers, then shakes his head. “I can’t get a bead on it. Kaguya, make it open up!”

There was a snort, followed by Kaguya raising her sword in air. A burst of blue butterflies announced Mrytu-mara's arrival, followed by a roar of thunder as it barreled forward, its blade bearing down on the Shadow.

The strike made the Shadow roar again, paws flying wide, and Yosuke grinned. “Got it! Go for the chest—I bet if you get rid of whatever that is, you get rid of the Shadow!”

The problem was, of course, the moment the triple threat of Kanji, Kaguya, and Yu came crackling down on the Shadow, it blocked again with its paws.

That was when Himiko appeared above it, waving, oddly transparent. It growled and swiped at her, only to get nothing but air. Cue a second, much more _real_ Himiko appearing at it's chest and driving it's staff into the doll-like monstrosity.

"I got it!" Shouted Rise. "Hit it, guys!"

The triple threat of Kanji, Kaguya, and Yu, as it turned out, was much more successful with a lightning rod. The Shadow roared loud enough to send Chie and Kanji reeling back, and Yosuke whooped as it began to disintegrate. “One more good hit, guys!”

"I can manage that", said Kaguya as her Persona brought its sword to bear and impaled the Shadow, side by side with Himiko as the lightning sung through the air again.

The roar this time began to get softer and softer, the Shadow crumbling away to reveal the floor below it. The last thing to go was its eyes, revealing Teddie laying still flat in front of his Shadow, now his size and staring into the middle distance.

All the cool Kaguya had collected in the fight is obviously blown out the window and into space the moment she sees Teddie's crumpled form; her sword is also launched, but it lands in the more terrestrial support beam behind her as she _runs_ , sliding to her knees beside the crumpled up ursine. The others follow her, less panicked but just as worried as they hover. Yosuke just watches from his spot, fiddling quietly with the edges of his headphones. 

Teddie gives a small, thankful little whine as she helps him back up, before looking up at his Shadow. Then he looks down, managing somehow to wring his flat little paws. They let him for a moment, then Yukiko speaks up.

“Is that part of you, Teddie?”

The bear blinks up at her, then turns to look at his silently-staring Shadow. “I…don’t know who I am.”

The Shadow just continues to stare, but Teddie soldiers on. “I’ve thought a number of times…that maybe there is no answer. …But I’m here. I live here.”

“You’re not alone, Teddie.” The bear looks around at Yosuke, who gives him an encouraging smile. “You’re here. We’re here too—and we’re all looking for who we are, right? We can find it together.”

Kaguya places a hand on the thinned bear suit's head, petting him slightly. Souji smiles, sweetly, placing his hand on his chest and nodding as Teddie looks up at him.

Yu looks down at the bear as Teddie turns to him, and offers one of his own rare smiles. "Yosuke's right", he rumbles. "You're not alone.”

Yosuke hadn’t expected the bear to burst into tears at that, but he couldn’t really blame him. And that seemed to be the right response anyway, because the Shadow fades into a Persona—a floating, crosslegged, doll-like figure with a TV for a head and two sets of arms, one laying on its knees and one set holding a bear-shaped painted mask. As the Persona fades into blue light, Teddie stutters out, “T-thank you, g-guys. You’re the best f-friends a bear could-d ask for.”

Souji and Yu both place their hands on the bear's head, joining their sister in reassuring. The resulting attempt at tackle-hugging only knocks Teddie backward, but Yosuke can tell that it was appreciated anyway. Rise manages a soft laugh, herself, before she finally swoons and begins to fall. Luckily, Yu is capable of turning around and grabbing her before she hits the ground.

“All right, time to blow this popsicle stand.” Kanji huffs, hefting his chair. “Someone get the bear and someone get the robot.”

That makes Yosuke look at his leg. “Uh…we’re going to have to cover this somehow, or I’m going to have to stay here.”

Souji frowns, worried, before getting an almost-literal lightbulb over his head. With a shy, stuttering sort of skitter, he edges towards Yosuke, before gently tossing his jacket over the robot's leg, and then picking the entire robot himself in a bridal carry.

"...You sprained it. I'm taking you home", he offers as an excuse.

Kaguya faintly snorts as she helps Teddie back to his feet. Yosuke just glares at her, trying to pretend he didn’t yelp loud enough to draw every Shadow in the dungeon down on your head, then tucks his face into Souji’s shoulder. “So…uh, your place or mine?”

"Yours. No Uncle to actually walk in."

There are a few more snorts, not only from Kaguya, prompting Souji to realize what that sounded like and blush.

“ _G-Guys!_ ”

Yosuke just reaches down and plucks a broken chunk of gear out of his leg, then pitches it at Kaguya’s head. “Oh, shut _up!_ Not my fault my parents are out of town.”

Kaguya catches the gear and the snorts from the group continue. Souji gives a pathetic whine, and Yu finally decides to play nice.

“Enough,” he states, hushing the team. He shifts the unconscious idol in his arms and begins to stride to the exit. “Let's go home.”

***

Much later, when Souji’s wrist-deep in reattaching his leg to his body, Yosuke murmurs, “Is it weird that I really…get Teddie now?”

Souji pauses for a second before shaking his head. "...No. I...don't think so", he drawls, slowly, as if thinking through his words as he speaks. "Everyone has problems with themselves, sometimes, after all." Souji then returns to his work, with a small shrug, like the subject was little more than a discussion of the weather.

Something about that was reassuring. Yosuke sighs, still staring at the ceiling. “It’s…weird, I guess. I don’t think of myself as dead. I’m not really. But…I am, too. I’m not human anymore. And Teddie’s never even _been_ human. I get him.”

Souji pauses again, before patting Yosuke's hand, sympathetically.

Yosuke smiles slightly, then catches Souji’s hand in his and gives it a quick squeeze. “Thanks, man. For…everything, really."

Souji blinks in surprise, before a smile unfolds sweetly on his face. "...You're welcome."

Something about that smile makes his stomach flip like he’s on a rollercoaster, but his only response is to smile wider and close his eyes. Nothing needs said right now, anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it's short, but it needed split from the previous chapter for flow reasons. Also, this is what Teddie's Persona is based on: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukurokuju


	11. One Step Beyond

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which Yosuke Attracts the Ire of King Moron

“…So, Teddie’s nose is stronger now?” Yosuke glances around at their classmates, but they’re engrossed in their early-morning conversations as they wait for Mooroka to come and torment them again. Satisfied, he leans closer to Kaguya, dropping his voice further. “Is that what you were talking to him about before we left the TV World?”

Kaguya pauses, her nails stopping their drumming on the side of the violin case hidden under her desk. She glances to the side for a moment before shaking her head, whispering back, "...Kind of. More like he thought crunches would make it stronger yet. ...Somehow."

Yosuke blinks slowly. “I…what? Have I mentioned that he’s weird?”

Kaguya snorts, shakes her head again, and resumes her drumming on her violin case.

Yosuke sighs, then snaps straight as Mooroka steps in the door. Something in his hip clicks as he shifts to face forward, but the wince that crosses his face could easily be blamed on Mooroka’s morning lecture—something about moral degeneracy and out-of-towners starting it.

Yosuke would feel insulted if they hadn’t heard it a thousand times before. Since he had, though, he waits for Mooroka to transition to something more mundane before slipping Souji a note.

_Hey, partner, hip’s clicking. Mind helping check it out later?_

Souji tries to read it under the table, he really does, but the problem is two-fold; one, he is at the front of all three siblings. Two, all three said siblings are out-of-towners, and while he's the only one who hasn't mouthed off to King Moron, the difference is nil.

Yu actually manages to look up from the script he was hiding under his desk, raising a silvery eyebrow as Mooroka snatched the note from his brother and read it out loud.

Kaguya, predictably, snorts. Yosuke, predictably tries to hide under his desk and utterly fails, but no-one seems to notice since Mooroka has center stage

Yukiko puts her hand to her mouth in an "oh my" as Mooroka begins his spiel, ranging anywhere between passing notes and out-of-towners with the extra spice of "the gay,” as if it was a noun instead of just a preference. Chie looks about ready to wring the guy's neck, and Souji is turning redder by the minute. The other two Narukamis have stopped looking amused at the use of "the gay,” to the point Kaguya seems to be considering joining Chie.

The rest of the class is somewhere between bemused, confused, and stealthily putting in earbuds because of course Mooroka would take things the wrong way and go on a spiel. _Poor Souji,_ a few looks said, but little was actually done beyond not giving Mooroka any more fuel to his already-raging fire

Luckily, the bell rings before King Moron can finish, or even write a detention slip. The Narukamis all bail as fast as they can, the girl of the trio "accidentally" hitting the vile teacher with her violin case as she hoists it over her shoulder, knocking him flat on his face. The rest of the class is wise and flees quickly themselves, followed at the back by a Yosuke who would like the floor to swallow him up.

It doesn’t, but everyone is solidly ignoring him, too, which he supposes is just as good.

***

Yosuke considers himself lucky that he’s off today, for more than the usual teenage preference for not working. He needs to make things up to Souji, and since Souji has basketball practice and is going to be pretty tired afterward, his best bet is food.

Specifically, veggie tempura and lemonade, otherwise known as Souji’s favorites.

He has to duck around the teacher’s office when he spots Mooroka inside, and once he’s past, he hurries to the gym as quickly as he can. Fortunately, the halls are clear, and it’s not hard to get to the gym without getting hung up on people trying to get through the doors.

One of the basketball players is just outside when he gets there, and after a moment, he places him as Kou. Souji’s mentioned him once or twice, and he seems to be nice enough, so Yosuke slides to a stop next to him. “Hey. Do you know where Souji is?”

Kou blinks and then shrugs, jerking his thumb back towards the locker room. "He left something in the locker room. Should be out soon.”

“Oh, ok.” Yosuke pauses, bouncing slightly. “Uh…did he seem all right?”

"...I mean, I guess?" The boy rubs the back of his neck. "A little skittish, but he muttered something about King Moron when I asked, and if _he_ was involved, can't blame him. Poor guy.”

“Ugh. Yeah, King Moron was more than involved. Hopefully this will—“

“YOU!”

Yosuke jumps into the air, somehow not spilling the food or drink, then turns to see Morooka stomping toward them. “Aw, _hell_.”

"Oh shit", Kou agrees in a hiss. "I'm uh—gonna go tell Souji not to come out."

For a scrawny kid, Kou's pretty fast when he wants to be.

“Yeah, uh, you do that!” Yosuke stares at Mooroka for a moment, who is already winding up into another rant about homosexual degeneracy, then decides that retreat is the better part of valor.

He wouldn’t be surprised if there was a cloud of smoke behind him.

He manages to make it all the way to the other side of the building, where the sewing club is. Inexplicably, it's also where Yu's back is, right in the exact place he can run into it.

Luckily, it's Yu, so he barely reacts besides an 'oof' and turning around to raise an eyebrow, rather than getting bowled over.

Yosuke has no need to pant anymore, so he looks at Yu with slightly wild eyes and spits, “King Moron. I was going to apologize to Souji, but he screwed _that_ up, just like everything _else_ today.”

"Ah." He needs no further explanation than that. Yosuke gets a comforting hair ruffle for his troubles, something that makes the robot droop slightly as he relaxes.

After a moment, he looks up through his bangs. “I’m just…gonna go home. Just tell him I’m sorry?”

Yu nods carefully. "...Want me to send him over? You’re standing odd." He gestures, still carefully, at Yosuke's bad hip.

“…I’ll be fine. He’s had a shit day as is.” Yosuke shakes his head. “Just…yeah, let him know I’m sorry.”

"...Right." Another slight hair ruffle, and Yosuke gives him a slight grin.

“Who knows, maybe King Moron will drop dead tomorrow!” He straightens, then rolls his shoulders. “Either way, though, see you guys later. And…yeah. Sorry.”

"We can only hope,” Yu snorts. He doesn’t smile but he nods, gently. "See you.”

The walk home takes him past Chie and Yukiko, as well as a male student he doesn’t recognize but who looks suspicious as hell. Before he can involve himself, the boy moves into Yukiko’s space and tries to grab her arm. Chie’s punishment is swift and painful, and Yosuke is hard-pressed to not guard his nonexistent nads as the male student crumples. Another swift kick sends the offender tumbling down the stairs, and Yosuke hesitantly sidles up to them. “You two okay?”

“Yeah, just that idiot who’s being stalking Yukiko.” Chie huffs, crossing her arms, then looks at Yosuke. Her eyes catch on the tempura and lemonade, and she frowns. “Things not go well with Souji?”

“King Moron spotted me.” Yosuke shrugs, trying not to show his frustration on his face. “It’s fine—Yu’s going to apologize for me, and I’ll bring him lunch tomorrow.”

“Yeah, that should help.” Chie pats him on the shoulder, then looks at Yukiko. “Ready to head home?”

Yukiko nods, and as she passes Yosuke, she gives him a shoulder pat too. Something about both girl’s sympathy makes him feel better too, and by the time he gets home, he feels almost normal again.

Yosuke has stepped inside and gotten his shoes off, but hasn’t dropped his bag or the food anywhere when someone knocks on the door. He turns, tucks the lemonade in his arm, then opens the door to find Souji standing there.

"Are you okay?", Souji asks immediately, glancing down at Yosuke's hip and the back up. “Yu—Yu told me you tried to come talk to me after practice but Mooroka—“ He trails off, shakes his head, and repeats, "Are you okay?”

Yosuke stares for a moment. It doesn’t register that it’s Souji talking to him at first. When it _does_ register, it takes him a moment to realize he needs to respond. And when he does respond, it’s definitely not the response appropriate to the situation.

“Uh—uh, I’m—here!” He shoves the lemonade and tempura into Souji’s hands, then slams the door shut and stares at it for a moment. Then he drops his bag, and mechanically heads up the stairs to his room. Once he’s in there, he flops onto the bed, covers his face with the pillow, and screams.

Luckily for Souji, he didn't actually lock the door, so shortly after the door to his room opens up.

"...I'm...gonna say that's a no on being okay.”

Yosuke doesn’t stop screaming until he runs out of breath. When he does, he just sits there silently for a moment, then murmurs, “You would be correct. …Sorry.”

"...It's...alright." The soft padding of his feet and the creak of the mattress is all the noise he makes after that. Hesitantly, he pats Yosuke's shoulder.

“…No, it’s not.” Yosuke pulls the pillow away from his eyes, even if his mouth is still covered. “I should’ve waited for like five minutes to ask you."

Hey, even I don't wanna stick around for... _him_." Souji makes a face before shaking his head again.

Yeah, but if I’d waited, we wouldn’t have to deal with him screaming at us tomorrow. So.” Yosuke sighs. “Sorry. …The tempura’s still warm, right?"

"Yeah." Slowly, a twitchy, soft smile flickers on the silver-haired boy's face. "Lemonade's still cool, too, and it all looks delicious. …Thanks."

That gets the pillow to come all the way off Yosuke’s face, revealing his own smile. “My hip can wait. You eat, ok?”

"...Come down with me? I know you don't eat a lot but..." Souji's smile grows sheepish and he shrugs. "It is your house. Feels a little awkward not to eat with you."

“I mean, you can eat up here if you want, but…sure.” Yosuke swings himself up, then smiles, awkward but still cheerful. “I could probably use something anyway to finish up the repairs anyway.”

Souji's smile grows more wide and warm as he stands back up, and all is back to how it should be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter, but things get more plotty soon.


	12. Ding Dong, The Witch is Dead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which Yosuke Regrets his Words

July 2011

 

“…You know, when I said ‘maybe he’ll drop dead tomorrow,’ I didn’t actually _mean_ it.”

Yosuke stares into the depths of his ramen, blinking slowly. He can’t say he’s sad over this—he’s not exactly dancing in the streets, but he’s not going to mourn for Mooroka, considering what a miserable bastard he was. But at the same time, he’s wondering if he’s almost responsible, in the ‘cursing someone with a joke’ way.

The Narukamis all have different reactions. Souji seems to share his almost-guilt, hands folding in his lap and frown aimed at his feet. Yu is unreadable as ever, slowly sipping his drink.

Kaguya finishes the last of her oversized meal and lets her fork clatter to the plate. "Nothing we can do for him now,” she points out. "Except figure out how the hell he fits the pattern.”

Yosuke shakes his head. “He doesn’t. No connections to Ms. Yamano, and no presence on the TV. Like, at all. I went back _years_.”

Yukiko grimaces. "Maybe we're missing something?"

"They said he looked like he was actually—“ Chie gulps. "Actually strangled. That's not...what the other two bodies were like. Right?"

Yu puts his drink down slowly. "It could,” he starts, measuring every syllable out, "be a copycat. But that still makes it a problem.”

“A bigger problem, really.” Yosuke leans forward on his elbows. “If it’s a copycat, then we’ve got two people to find. If it’s _not,_ then they’re tired of us saving victims, and we have to stop them _now_."

The problem was, they had no leads, and the table came to a stormy silence for it.

“…Well, shouldn’t we check with Teddie first?” Kanji crosses his arms. “I mean, we need to know whether or not he actually made it into the TV world to know if it’s really different or not.”

“…You know? That’s a good point.” Yosuke looks at Yu. “To Junes, then?”

Yu nods, and the three Narukamis stand, though Souji still hasn't looked up.

Yosuke frowns at that. “…Souji?”

Souji blinks and starts before finally raising wide, gray eyes to Yosuke. He manages a wobbly smile. "I'm...I'm okay. Just a little shocked is all.”

Yosuke easily reads between the lines on that: _I'm not actually sorry he's dead and I feel awful._ So he offers his friend a smile. “…Yeah. I am too. We’ll be shocked together.”

_Neither am I. It’s okay._

“...Right."

Yosuke puts his hand on Souji’s shoulder. “Let’s go find the bastard who killed him, yeah?”

Souji's smile stabilizes and he nods. “Yeah."

***

Their trip to the electronics section is drawn up short by a trio of employees chatting in one of the aisles. Yosuke glances at his friends, then says, “Hold on,” and heads over to the men.

“Hi, guys. Something going on?”

“Oh, hey, Yosuke. Perfect timing. Someone named Doug Teddie is here for you.”

“…What? Doug Teddie?” Yosuke looks back at his friends, stomach sinking.

That dread proves to be sadly correct. As they rounded the corner, they find Teddie in one of the massage chairs, vibrating cheerfully. They all stared for a moment, then Chie points out the obvious.

“Whoa, he’s here!”

Souji rubs the heels of his hands on his eyes, disbelieving, before staring wide eyed at the scene. Yu mutters a soft, “What," under his breath before finally getting that resigned 'I guess this is happening now' look on his face. Kaguya just stares.

And Yosuke groans and covers his face. “What the heck are you doing here?”

“It’s about time you guys showed up! I’ve been waiting!” Teddie continues to vibrate in his chair, and Yosuke groans again.

“That is not an answer, Teddie!”

“I mean, who knew he could leave the TV?” Yukiko’s soft voice makes Yosuke sigh, but Teddie seemed to respond to that more positively than to Yosuke’s questioning.

“Yeah, of course I can leave the TV. There is an exit. It just never crossed my mind to use it before.” Teddie grins. “But after spending so much time with you guys, I wanted to come see you in your world.”

Yosuke’s jaw drops slightly, and he sneaks a glance at the Narukamis. Yu gives him a resigned shake of his head and sighs. _Just roll with it. Why not._

Yosuke throws up his hands. “Okay, fine, just don’t…do anything weird, ok?”

“Yay! I knew you’d be happy that I was here.” Yosuke blinks at just how badly his tone had gone over the bear’s head, then blinks again as he continues, “Oh, someone asked me what my name was, so I told them, ‘Duh, Teddie!’”  
“Duh…Teddie…” Yosuke covers his face. “Duh. Teddie.” Kaguya recovers enough from her blank staring to start snorting, even as Souji slowly joins Yosuke in hiding his face in his hands.

Fortunately for the investigation, Kanji is a little more with it. He leans forward, in between Yosuke and Chie, then murmurs, “So, uh, was anyone thrown into the TV World last night?”

“…Not that I smelled. And I would have smelled them pretty well now!”

Yosuke uncovers his face and crosses his arms. “Let’s talk about this somewhere else.”

Once they get into their usual spot, they interrogate the bear until he starts flailing. “Yes! How many times do I have to tell you yes! I could smell an intruder from three miles away now!”

Yu scowls at his drink thoughtfully. "Then it had to be done on this side."

Souji worries his lip. "But then...how do we stop them over _here_..?"

“Well, first, we find them."

"That's not what I—“ Souji sighs. “Never mind."

“I know that’s not what you meant, but we can’t _plan_ if we don’t know what we’re planning for.” Yosuke sighs as well, scrubbing at his hair. “I mean, what if it turned out to be one of the police? We’d have to be really careful with that."

Kaguya shoots him a glare, one that he just raises an eyebrow to. "Watch it."

Yu shakes his head. "I...doubt that, really. They're not...exactly..."

"Competent?" pipes in Yukiko.

"...Harsh, but yes."

“Hey, it was just an example!”

Kanji elbows Yosuke, then leans forward on his elbows. “So…what, we made the killer come over here?”

“What do you mean?” Yosuke frowns, them glances at Chie as she speaks.

“We kept stopping them, so they must’ve gotten frustrated over it.” Chie leans back in her chair. “Did we mess up?”

"That'd figure", Kaguya drawls, only to get a look from her brothers.

"I don't think saving people from the TV counts as 'messing up'." Yu shook his head. "Either way, copycat or frustrated and trying over here instead, we need more leads.”

“Looks like it’s time we hit the pavement, then.” Yosuke leans back, stretching even if he doesn’t strictly need to.

“Well, I’ll leave that to you. Right now, this bear is too _hot_.” Teddie faceplates onto the table, then sits up again and grabs his head. “Oh, I’ll just take this off—“

“No you _won’t_!” Yosuke grabs Teddie’s hands. “There are kids here! You’re going to scar them for life!”

Souji pales a bit. “Never mind us. It is a little...eerie, you with your block off, Ted.”

“Cut it out!” Teddie swats Yosuke in the face, knocking him back. “I’m not empty anymore!” And with that, he yanked his head off.

The gaping void Yosuke had expected is no longer there. Instead, what pops out is an…unexpectedly _beautiful_ boy. 

…At least, Yosuke is going to assume boy, since the kid is also _shirtless_.

This is followed by an incredible amount of squawking and gawking by the rest of the group. Yu and Kaguya are the only fully silent ones; Yu, blinking and muttering a 'what' before getting that increasingly-common resigned look on his face and Kaguya just looking utterly perplexed.

Teddie ignores all of them as he flips his hair. “Ooh, nice breeze.”

The combination of hair flipping and beauty _somehow_ seems to produce sparkles. Genuine, honest to god sparkles, as if the whole scene had suddenly become an anime. Kaguya, face still perplexed, quietly steals the gobsmacked Yukiko's fan to bat them away from herself.

Yosuke spits one out, then ignores the rest as they settle in his hair.“Okay, I’ll get the bear a drink. Someone else get him some _clothes_.”

***

Yosuke is pretty certain that Chie just blew an entire paycheck on clothes for Teddie, but he can’t bring himself to care. Teddie now has clothes, and he and Kanji can stop glancing awkwardly at each other because this day has gone from weird to surreal—he _grew his own human body._

The _hell._

Kanji does have something to say on the ruffled shirt that Teddie’s now wearing. He plucks at the ruffles thoughtfully, then nods. “Hey, you sell some nice stuff here, Yosuke.”

“I mean, it’s not _me_ , but…thanks?” Yosuke scratches the back of his head. “People aren’t going to buy stuff if it isn’t comfortable, are they?”

Kaguya, at least, seems to approve of the new look, if her vaguely amused expression as Teddie prances around her says anything. Yosuke watches for a moment, then shrugs and looks around. Movement catches the corner of his eye, and he turns just in time to see Nanako step inside Junes.

“Hey, guys, Nanako’s here.” Yosuke glances at Yu. “Should we go see what’s up?”

Yu snorts slightly and points. When Yosuke turns back around, he can see Souji already making a direct beeline for his baby cousin, and her face lighting up the moment she sees him.

“…That works too. Field trip, I guess.” He grins. “Time to teach Teddie about the finer points of shopping.”

Yu nods, an amused twinkle in his eye that makes Yosuke wonder exactly what he’s signed up for.

As it turns out, shopping with the Narukamis turns out to be fairly normal. Yosuke hasn’t really been food shopping in a while, but from what he remembers, this is how it should go, even with a spirited Teddie poking at absolutely everything. They split up, searching for the ingredients to the dinner Nanako had thought of, and since it doesn’t take Yosuke long to find everything he’s been tasked with, he heads to where he thinks Nanako and Yu should be.

He’s just in time to see that fish-faced idiot who was hitting on Yukiko yesterday reaching menacingly for Nanako’s head.

The basket he’s carrying falls to the ground with a clatter, but before he can take more than two steps, Yu has stepped between them.

Yu's voice is so low it's difficult to know what, exactly, he's saying, but the venom is palpable, and fish-face is stumbling backwards, clearly shaking in his boots. Nanako has her face tucked into Yu's side, his hand gently resting on her head as he looms over the stalker.

Yosuke takes a step back to grab his basket, then starts forward again just as fish-face runs off. He blows a sigh of relief, then makes it to the pair. “Everything ok?”

"Is now." And that's all Yu has to say on the subject as he turns and gives a soft, worried frown down at Nanako. But she give a shaky smile up and a nod,causing a rare smile to grace his face for a moment.

“Good.” Yosuke smiles down at her as well, then glances in the direction that the stalker went. “…Keep an eye out—he was bugging Yukiko the other day.”

Yu nods, quickly, and then gently begins guiding Nanako towards the checkout, leaving Yosuke to consider his thoughts.

_What’s that saying we were learning in English? There’s no such thing as coincidence?_

***

They decide to stop by the popsicle stand near Rise’s to kill two birds with one stone—get Teddie something to celebrate his being here, and give Rise her glasses. Kanji is sent with what remains of Yosuke’s money to get the sweets, while the rest of them amble toward Rise’s.

They pull up short, however, when they spot someone standing outside the tofu shop. After a moment, Yosuke places him by the still-weird sensor ping as well as the distinctive blue hat. “Hey, it’s that kid who was interrogating Kanji.”

There is a distinct, concerned frown on the Narukamis' faces as they share a look with each other. Kaguya straightens to her full height for a moment to look over her shoulder in the direction Kanji was sent off to, while Yu carefully worms his way to the front of the group. Yosuke positions himself between Souji and Yu, and they start forward again as a more united front while Kaguya takes up the rear as the small battalion of teenagers makes their way towards the tofu shop, steps clicking together with combined purpose. Honestly, from an outside view, it'd almost be a little frightening.

The kid, however, seems unfazed as he straightens and looks at them. His gaze is almost challenging as he stares up at them, and somehow Yosuke is unsurprised when the fist words out of his mouth are, “So you did come here today.”

Yu frowns and tilts his head, expression unreadable. Souji frowns and steps a little closer to Yosuke.

Kaguya snorts, straightening up again so as to be seen. " _Very_ astute observation."

"Did you need something?" Souji cuts her off, still frowning. 

"Because if you don’t," Yu continued, head straightening and hands in his pockets, "then we've had a long, stalker-ridden day already and would rather just check in on our friend.”

“Not particularly—I’m here helping the police investigate the recent string of serial murders.”

Yosuke blinks. “You’re a detective?”

“Yes. I haven’t introduced myself to you, have I? My name is Naoto Shirogane.” He looks at them consideringly, then adds, “If I’m not mistaken, the last victim, Kinshiro Morooka was a teacher at your school.”

"That's right", Yu nods. "We just heard about it today." He paused, considering himself, before continuing. "Shirogane, huh? Our uncle's mentioned you.”

“Ryotaro Dojima, right?” He considers the again. “Since you’re all here, mind if I ask you a question?”

Souji once again cut Kaguya off before her annoyed noise could be completely verbalize. "I suppose so, yes. Make it quick, please? We really do need to check on poor Rise.”

“Of course.” Naoto crosses his arms. “The media is making a big deal about how the second victim, Saki Konishi, went to the same school as your Mr. Morooka, but that’s irrelevant. I think it’s much more important that Morooka was never on television. Wouldn’t you agree?”

To Yu's credit, his only show of surprise was a blink. "...Why would you say that?”

“Because the first victim also appeared on TV before her murder. It’s really the only thing that ties them together other than how they were found.” Naoto tilts his head, looking up from under the brim of his hat. “Isn’t that interesting?”

Yu shrugs, slowly. "If you say so. I've been a bit more caught up in the fact people were being kidnapped and-or murdered than the rationale behind it.”

“Mm, well, I can’t blame you.” Naoto shrugs, then tips the brim of his hat. “I’ll leave you to see to your friend, then. Give my regards to Kanji Tatsumi, would you?”

As he walks away, Yosuke gives Souji a sidelong glance. “…You don’t think…he suspects us, do you?”

Souji bites his lip and glances after the tiny detective. "...I mean. Probably. We are a little suspicious..."

“…Okay, well, here’s hoping he suspects us for being actually interested as opposed to the actual killers.” Yosuke sighs. “Let’s just go see Rise. No point in panicking yet.”

***

They do get a replacement for Morooka next day, but Yosuke’s not sure if Ms. Kashiwagi will be any better, especially with finals coming up. He says as much to Chie, who just gives him a look. “I thought you were Mr. Robot Brain who didn’t _need_ to study.”

“That’s not the point! Exams are still—“

“Yukiko.”

They all freeze and look up to see fish-face standing there. Even though it’s a school day, he’s not in uniform, and Yosuke is pretty sure he hasn’t showered in a couple of days. Yosuke shifts forward so that he’s right behind Yukiko, even as Chie spits, “You again!”

“Come on. Come with me, Yukiko.” The kid stalks forward ignoring Chie, and Yosuke reaches out to pull Yukiko back. He’s a split second too slow, and the kid gets Yukiko’s wrist and starts pulling. “Come to my world.”

Chie, fortunately, is just as fast as she ever is in shoving him back. “Back off!”

“This isn’t about you!” The kid’s face becomes a grotesque, enraged caricature of itself, before smoothing into a puppy-like pout. “Yukiko, you’re going to come with me, right?”

“…I’m sorry, who are you? Have we met before?” Everyone stares at Yukiko with expressions that range from ‘harsh, girl’ to ‘he’s going to murder you in your sleep tonight.’ Yosuke is primarily the latter, and he winces as the kid’s face goes back to furious.

“Are you messing with me? Huh!? How dare you!” Yosuke isn’t sure whether he needs to reach out and grab Yukiko or Kaguya first, but the choice is mute when a low, rough voice comes out of nowhere.

“The hell are you?”

Everyone turns to look to see Kanji bearing down on the kid, who is scrambling back in the first solid evidence he has a brain he’s show all day. Kanji, for his part, doesn’t stop until the kid is almost through the gate as he growls, “What do you want with Yukiko?”

The kid stares for another moment, then seems to decide that he has to get a parting shot in. “You moron! You’ll regret this!” Kanji doesn’t even flinch, and as the kid turned tail and ran, he stands, waiting in case the kid came back.

Yu has his hands on Yukiko's shoulders, soothing, as Chie fusses around her. Souji's flitting between helping Chie fuss and checking over Yosuke's head to make sure the stalker is gone. Kaguya steps next to Kanji, frowning in the fleeing fish-face's direction and adding an extra aura of menace to Kanji's already terrifying presence.

Yosuke watches him go, then looks around at the Narukamis. “This is just getting _weird._ ”

"'Creepy' is the word I'd use,” Yu snorts. "Next time he shows up, I'm dragging him to the police."

Souji frowns worriedly, halting in his fussing. "It is strange, though, isn't it? That he keeps popping up everywhere?"

"That's what stalkers tend to do,” Kaguya points out dryly without actually looking over.

“He’s got a point. He’s not just chasing Yukiko—he showed up at Junes, when he didn’t even know she was there.” Yosuke crosses his arms. “And while it kind of feels like coincidence…I don’t know.”

Souji rubs his arms and agrees, mumbling, "Something doesn't feel right."

There's a long, stormy pause.

“Police," Yu intones into the silence again. "Definitely dragging to the police.”

***

Somehow, the police seem to do the dragging for them. The kid’s been arrested, and it’s the talk of the town. But something just doesn’t sit right with Yosuke, and the rest of the team agrees.

That’s why they decide to watch the Midnight Channel that night.

And when fish-face shows up on the screen, he knows that, whatever else was going on, _this_ isn’t coincidence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These next two chapters may be the last to come out for a couple of weeks, because the next few will probably need written all at once. We're getting into the fun stuff, though!


	13. Every Breath You Take

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which They Catch The Culprit

July 2011

 

They dive into the TV World the next day. Yosuke is bouncing nervously, but he can’t help it—if Teddie can’t find this kid now, then they’re completely screwed. And for a minute, it looks like they might be, because for some reason, Teddie can’t get his new Persona to work for him. The mask is simply not fitting over his mascot head’s face.

Then Kaguya points out that it’s human sized, and after a moment of confusion, Teddie steps out of his bear suit. After a moment of staring around, he pouts. “Now I can’t see anything!”

“Do you have some spare glasses? I mean, you can borrow mine.” Yosuke doesn’t technically need them, anyway, though he wears them to fit with the rest of the team. He still isn’t sure how Teddie had managed to make pince-nez glasses with false arms, but he isn’t going to knock them since they actually stay on his face.

“No—hold on—“ Teddie pats himself down, then withdraws a pair of black frames with a triumphant noise. “There we go! I couldn’t see right in your world either, so I made these to help!”

“…Okay then.” Kanji glances at Yosuke, who just shrugs. “So, can you find the guy now?”

“Just one second.” Teddie draws the visor of his Persona over his face, then begins to turn in a slow circle. Suddenly, he stops, then points. “That way! I’m sure of it!”

“All right.” Yosuke puts his bouncing into full use, striding ahead of the others before they can really move. “Let’s get this over with!”

***

The dungeon is…actually pretty cool. It looks like a 3-D version of an eight-bit game, and even their footsteps sound like they’re coming from a bitcrushed audio file. Yosuke puts on some appropriate music, grinning slightly. “Hey, at least it’s not some creepy horror game or anything!”

Teddie gives him a confused look, peeking out from under his Persona's bear-like mask with a frown. "Horror what now?"

"Existential horror, maybe,” Yu mutters, glancing up and down the castle. Kaguya nods.

"Or daylight horror."

"Guys, could you maybe lighten up?" Souji shakes his head and patted Chie's shoulder as she tries to not look mildly frightened.

“Yeah. I mean, sure we know what’s coming, but let’s just…have a little fun?” Yosuke gives Kaguya a flat look. “Before the inevitable screaming?”

Kaguya blinks. "...Why're you looking at me?"

Souji shakes his head again.

“Because Yu might be messing with us, but you’re serious.” Yosuke sighs through his nose. “Come on, let’s just…go.”

Kaguya still looks mildly perplexed, but Teddie desummoning his Persona and grabbing the back of her shirt seems to distract her enough. Yu takes the lead as always, head tilted as he listens, and she moves his hand to her arm and begins walking, her free hand resting on her (new) sword hilt.

Souji, at least, remains by Yosuke's side, and Yosuke gives Souji a little grin, then jerks his head at the entrance. “Come on. Before Chie kills a man for messing with Yukiko.” Souji smiles and nods,obviously relieved someone wasn't out to kill the mood.

Then Yosuke has to duck as Chie throws something at his head, and he’s too distracted by that to follow up on what feels like something he should follow up on.

Probably for the best, though—they do need to pay attention now.

***

“I know that creep from the Midnight Channel is in here—I can feel it.”

“You want to mumble a challenge to me again?! Them beady little fish-eyes you’ve got? Bring it on, I dare you!”

Yosuke rolls his eyes slightly as Chie and Kanji yell at the walls. Having fun is one thing, psyching yourself up is too, but they still don’t need to call down every Shadow in the place. “Let’s just keep going—enjoy the ride while we’re here?”

Kaguya lightly pats Rise, who in turn lightly pats Yukiko. Yukiko sighes and shook her head.

Teddie sniffs and then freezes. “Uh—b-bearing that in mind Yosuke—INCOMING!”

“SHI—“ Yosuke shoulders Souji to the side as a die tries to take off his head. “Good nose, Ted! More coming where that came from!”

Souji yelps, but instinctively Jiraya and a shield of wind kick up around him and Yosuke. Yu shouts as another dice flies by him, pulling Kanji out of the line of fire while Rise cracks the side of it with her staff, sending it spiraling into a wall. A third rolls its way towards Chie and Yukiko, Making the girls hop over to Yu's side, fire and ice whirling about but doing nothing.

Teddie hops back too, mask and TV-headed avatar bursting into existence around him. Kaguya pulls away, Myrtu-mara bursting to life in a cloud of blue butterflies behind her, crackling menacingly.

The blonde takes in a deep breath. "I think—lightning! Lightning lighting! They're weak to lightning! But—!” Teddie gasps, then pushes up his mask, calling out in alarm, "So-sensei, Yosuke, move!"

It’s at that point the dice barrel through Souji's shield.

Yosuke snarls and punts the dice into the air, following the foot with his thrown kunai. Those taken care of, he crouches, yanking a Medicine out of his pocket and handing it to Souji. “You ok, Partner?”

"Y-yeah." He rubs his arm, wincing as his own Dia starts to work. "Save the meds, I'm okay.”

“Dude, we have the meds so you can _save_ that shit.” Despite the irritation in his tone, he’s gentle as he pulls Souji to his feet and turns.

There was a soft whine from the ex-bear.

"Focus, Ted!” Yu bellows as he stabs and zaps at the spinning trio of dice.

"R-Right!" Teddie shakes himself and pulls his Persona's mask back down, its eyes glowing yellow as he begins to scan again. "L-lightning is the only thing that works on these things-- nothing else!"

Yu takes the hint. "Alright, Yukiko, you and Souji are on healing duty. Chie, Yosuke, buffs. Everyone else?" He squares his shoulders, Izanagi roaring to life with a shattering sound behind him. “Showtime.”

“Careful, guys—they’ll blow up if you don’t kill them fast enough.” Sukukajas settle over everyone, and Yosuke sighs through his nose. “And we’re low on Revival Beads.”

Chie squawks as she dodges them. "Now's not the time to pull our leg!"

“Er," the navibear interjects, grimacing as Fukurokuju snaps one of its extra hands and pulls a shield up around them just as a dice barrels for him, making it bounce harmlessly away. "He's really not."

“Great," grunts Rise as she high-kicks another dice up where Himiko can strike it with a bolt of lightning.

“Just hit them hard, and keep your distance!” Yosuke kicks another dice away so Kaguya could electrify it.

“Easier said than done!” Kanji leaps over a dice, then hits it with his own electricity. “Not like we can just stick them to magnets or anything!”

Yukiko blinks, frowning as she looks away from where she was healing Yu's cut arm. "I mean, would we even find one big enough for that?"

"That's not the--" Chie cuts off as she notices the dice that is beginning to crack and glow with a morbid light, its shadow casting over her best friend. "Yukiko, watch out!"

No one is quite close enough to get to the red-shirted medic; she can only catch sight of the dice and throw up her hands, Persona curling up around her in a vain attempt to protect her from the blow.

Then there’s a faint little growl from Teddie's corner and another snap from Fukurokuju just before the dice detonates.

There’s a din of panicked teenagers screeching for their friend, but when the smoke clears, Yukiko is unharmed—and surprised of it herself, says her blinking. The barrier Fukurokuju had put around itself and its owner now shimmers around her, with not so much as a dent. She looks up and smiles appreciatively at Teddie, murmuring, "Thank you.”

Teddie grins, but it falls quickly as another dice pops up behind him. With a yelp he and his Persona scramble to the side, but it was clear Fukurokuju was not designed to move much or fast; there’s a flinch from both avatar and host as the dice cuts into the Persona's shoulder.

"Oh-ho, not today, fucker!" Mrytu-mara catches the offending dice in air and slams it into the ground, a series of lightning strikes following it as Kaguya snarls bloody murder. Yukiko and Souji both cast a quick Dia on the slightly-shaken navibear.

"Are you alright, Ted?" Souji calls.

"Y-yeah." Fukurokuju snaps its fingers again, shield vanishing from Yukiko and reappearing once again around it and Teddie. "O-one at a time, I guess.”

“Ted, stay back.” Yosuke yanks both himself and Souji to the ground. “You can smell just fine from behind us. We’ve got this.”

They do, indeed, have this. With fewer dice, they can focus their fight more, and the electricity soon stops flying as the last dice crumbles to pieces. After making sure everyone is in one piece (and Yosuke thinks he can be forgiven for focusing on Souji), they start forward once again.

They’re pretty quickly stopped by a giant red WARNING just floating in the air. Yosuke gapes, then glances up at the ceiling as voices began to echo down to them.

“Who—who are you?!”

**_“Who am I? I am nothing. And you are me.”_**

“SHUT UP!”

Chie shifted forward. “That sounds like the guy we saw on the Midnight Channel!”

“You aren’t me! I did it! What do you say to that!”

The WARNING faded, and the doors behind it opened up as the second voice spoke again.

**_“I feel nothing.”_**

“…Okay, _now_ we’re in a horror game.” Yosuke sighs as the first voice begins to rant. “Happy, Kaguya?”

“No."

“…Well, that’s…good.” Yosuke blinks at her.

"You set yourself up for that." Yu shook his head and glanced at Teddie. "Any warnings _before_ we deal with Silent Hill?"

"Silent huh?"

“...Never mind. Any warnings?”

“There’s nothing in there yet.” Yosuke rolls his eyes. “Come _on._ ”

Yu gives him the _look_ that said "you know what 'you're not me' means," but Teddie cuts in, quietly.

"Uh, actually. It really is...nothing. As in, a big void, like something's blocking everything. Or..."

"...Or it wasn't there to begin with,” Kaguya finishes, glancing at Yu. "I think you called it on the game."

Yu does not looked thrilled with that revelation.

“Okay, no-one’s screaming because they’re getting their head torn off by a Shadow yet. Let’s go and keep that from happening, yeah?” Yosuke shifts. “Even if he’s a murderer, he doesn’t deserve that.”

"Right." Yu shakes himself and turns. "Stay close everyone."

The room is huge and empty, except for the spotlit boy in orange playing some retro game in the middle. Behind him stands an identical boy, shouting at what can only be his Shadow.

“—I freaking KILLED HIM!”

Spittle flies as the boy slashes his hand through the air.

“I don’t care what some _poser_ like you has to say! Just get out of my sight!”

The Shadow only moves to keep playing his game. **_“You’re not going to accept me, are you?”_** A familiar red mist fills the air, and Yosuke swears. **_“I am a Shadow. Come to me. I’ll put an end to your emptiness.”_**

“Here we go!” Yosuke tosses up a knife. “Ted, stay back this time—even if the others can’t hear you, I will. Ok?”

"R-right!" Static flickers nervously on Fukurokuju, as if expressing for Teddie while his face was behind the mask, but with a finger snap his shield is up again.

Yosuke nods, then looks at the Narukamis. “You taking the lead, then?”

Lightning cracks and wind blows in response.

“You’re taking the lead.” Yosuke settles his stance. “And here it comes!”

The Shadow coalesces into what can only be described as a giant baby. Before anyone can say anything, an 8-bit-esque knight forms around it, making Yosuke grimace. “So, what, it’s going to be a two-stage fight? Break the shell, then kill the actual boss?”

“Yes," says Teddie behind him. "It's...still bearly anything there to pick up, but the main thing is on the insides, not outsides."

"Any weak spots?"

" _Don't_ use light or dark spells, and—and maybe try to keep to magic?"

"Got it." Yu whirls his katana in his hand. "Let's go, everyone!”

At first, the fight is…kind of boring. It’s not easy, but it’s doable, and they chip away at the outer shell until there’s a hole to reach the boss. Yosuke plunges in first, Agilao exploding in front of him before he leaps out and away so someone else can take a shot. “All right! Someone else hit it!”

"Kaguya, with me! Souji, cover us!" As the three Narukamis step forward, storm whipping about them, something wicked glints in the infantile Shadow's eyes.

Teddie lets out a gasp. "Oh no no no MOVE MOVE MOVE--!"

Souji obviously sees what was coming first, reaching to pull his siblings out, but their sheer girth and the split-second moment of confusion dooms all three. A wall of blocks coalesces around them and pulls them apart into three separate orbs of solid 3D brick.

“Fucking HELL!” Yosuke launches a furious Agilao at the boss, circling the brick orbs. “Ted! Are they still alive?!”

“I—I can't tell!" The navibear sounds nearly hysterical with that, static flashing on Fukurokuju’s screen as its extra fingers twitch slightly and the shield around him ripples. "I can't tell! It's like the void-thing around the Shadow—I can't smell a thing!"

"BREATHE, Teddie!" Rise's voice is surprisingly strong, in that if it wasn't for her pale face as she skidded next to Yusuke to follow his Agilao with a Zionga. "Y-Yosuke, Yu told me something about you being able to sense things, can't you—?”

“I can, but this—! Fuck!” Yosuke sheathes his knives and closes his eyes, willing himself calm. “Okay. You guys keep hammering on it. Ted, make sure Yukiko doesn’t overdo it on the healing. I’m going to get them out.”

“I-I—"

"Teddie, it's okay." Rise's voice shakes the blonde and his Persona out of their freak out, Fukurokuju's screen clearing.

“I—okay."

“I’m going to get them out.” Yosuke says it again, a little more gently. “All you guys have to do is keep the boss from targeting me."

There's a pause before Teddie takes a deep breath. “...Okay," he says, a bit more surely.

“You can do it, Ted.” Yosuke closes his eyes again, and Howori shimmers into view behind him.

“ ** _You realize I’m not meant for this, right?_** “

“Yeah, neither am I. Now, let’s do this.”

He reaches out to the orb he’s pretty sure has Souji in it, _praying_ that his sensors can penetrate the outer shell.

There's something in there, yes, almost but—

_—he stands on the shore of the river, watching the robot walk away with a casual, callous shrug and his heart feels like it's shaking, his fists ARE shaking, and he feels the tears on his face and the hurt in his belly stupid stupid STUPID—_

—the connection snaps.

Yosuke reels, sensors shrieking, but he can almost swear he feels Howori steady him. “ ** _Again. You can do it._** “

This time the connection reaches for Kaguya's sphere. Again—

— _“Wait!" but the bear is gone and she can see the faintest traces of red and pigtails turn the corner in the corner of her eyes but she can't look away from the TV screen, pressing her hands against it desperately to find no give, no pull, no ANYTHING, and she's falling to her knees and her eyes are stinging why why why why—_

—the connection snaps.

“ ** _Again._** “

Yosuke swears his nose is bleeding, but when he touches the skin, there’s nothing. So he reaches out again.

The last sphere, is of course, Yu's. It's almost more stable, but there's something grimmer, something sadder behind the stability—

— _He sighs as the little girl runs up the stairs, abandoning the rabbit doll Kaguya had given her at the bottom carelessly, like it meant nothing. He's not angry, no. He's not even upset. Just...tired._

_"Should've known."_

_He turns to look at his triplets; Kaguya on the couch with her knees pulled up in her arms and faced buried in the caps, and Souji kneeling by the table, fists clenching on his shirt and eyes rimmed red._

_"It'll always be just us.”_ —

—the connection wavers and then lets go.

This time, Yosuke settles himself without help from Howori. He’s only got one more shot at this, but he knows he can do it as he reaches out to Souji’s orb.

_Come on, Partner. Come on. I’ve got you. Reach back._

There's silence, and then whispering. A fast-forwarding through events and loneliness and a sudden SNAP of rage and then—

_Yosuke...?_

The connection clicks.

Yosuke feels it, in his head, down to his bones. It hurts, he was never meant for this, but he ignores the pain and presses forward.

_It’s me, Partner. Come on. I’ve got you._

There is a moment, a split-second of hesitation, before something reaches back, and the shield around Souji begins to crack.

_I’ve got you._ Yosuke staggers forward, reeling and creaking, and positions himself in front of the orb as he grabs onto that tenuous something. _I’ve got you_.

The shield crumbles and Souji's hand breaks through, stretching and reaching from the depths of the blocks.

Teddie gives a short yelp as one Narukami snaps back on his sensor, followed by a short hiccup of relief. "Oh, thank goodness—they’re okay! It's faint but—“

"Atta boy, Yosuke!" Rise skidded by, cheered by the success, and quickly smacks her staff against Yu's sphere. Behind her, Konohana Sakuya rises and glides across the area, dodging attacks from the infant Shadow still leering from the broken video game character's shell before placing its claws on Kaguya's, digging them in.

These too began to crack.

Yosuke grabs the hand, ignoring the ache in his gears, and starts to pull. “Come on, Partner. Push. I’ve got you. I’m here.”

The sphere finally collapses, Souji emerging—or more like being thrown out in slow motion into Yosuke's arms.

Somewhere behind them, in the din, Teddie starts calling for Kaguya as her own sphere crumbles, and Rise yelps as Yu's begins to rattle and shake all on its own.

Yosuke ignores them as he catches Souji, getting his arm behind his partner’s head to support it. Everything feels weird—he’s pretty certain his pupils are different sizes, his knees are trying to give out, and everything looks like a disco ball’s gone off. But he manages a smile that he hopes is reassuring and murmurs, “Hey, Partner. Back with us?”

“I—Yeah." Souji almost manages a smile but it falls short and then just falls. Jiraya bursts into life and shimmers for a moment before the healing begins, working into Yosuke's aching joints.

Kaguya falls out of her sphere as it falls apart, a breathless swear hidden in the din as Yukiko's Persona catches her. With a wave of her fan, Yukiko herself guides Konohana Sakura back towards her, then further, to Teddie. The navibear's shield vanishes for a moment while he grasps at her, and Kaguya stumbles into a his hug before the shield snaps up around them.

Rise yelps again as Yu's sphere gives a mighty crack and drops to the ground, shattering as it does. In the dust, Yu's figure can be made out, but he does not turn to face the team-- not yet. He only stares up at the infantile Shadow, an aura of menace about him that not even Kaguya could dare match.

Yosuke still ignores all of this. His forehead bumps against Souji’s, and he closes his eyes. “I’ve got you, Partner. I’ve always got you.”

***

The next thing Yosuke knows, he’s staring at the ceiling of Junes. Chie and Souji are leaning over him, and he can see Yukiko shifting nervously behind Chie. Chie says something worried, but Yosuke ignores her, slowly looking around to catalog his friends.

Somewhat surprisingly, everyone looks fine. A little scuffed, here and there—Chie’s got a tear in her shirt, Kanji’s hair is dirty, the triplets are definitely ruffled, and Teddie’s shirt seems to have lost some of its buttons—but not hurt. Not hurt at all.

He sighs, then closes his eyes. “Good. Gang’s all here.”

“Is that all you have to say for yourself?!” Chie’s indignant voice makes him crack one open eye again. “You _passed out_ on us!”

He squints at her, then squints at Souji. “You ok?”

Souji doesn't manage a smile—he’s pale, his lips pressed thin—but he nods, slowly.

“Then we’re good.” Yosuke closes his eye again. “What happened, though?”

Kaguya, who Yosuke had seen as also pale and with Teddie attached to her side, mumbles something, but Rise voices it properly.

"Senpai just—“ there's a pause while she tried to find the words, “—there were s _o many_ Personas, one after the other, that the Shadow didn't even get a break between them."

"I didn't even know he _had_ that many,” Yukiko adds softly, in awe.

There's footsteps. "I called our Uncle,” Yu's voice rumbles, softer than usual, and bluntly ignoring the prior two statements. "The police should be here to pick this guy up soon.”

“He’s the leader for a reason.” Yosuke hums softly, then nods, still not opening his eyes. “Good riddance.”

Dojima has a few words to say to the Narukamis and the rest of the group for hunting down a self-confessed murderer, but he notices how shaken they all are and slowly begins to relent, ending it with a sigh, rubbing his neck, and a gruff, "Get yourselves home." Adachi, at least, looks sympathetic, patting Yu on the shoulder before getting into the police car.

Teddie has to be coerced into letting Kaguya go, only to attach himself to Yosuke. Though, to the blonde's credit, after a point he starts helping take the weight off Yosuke's feet. In spite of the slender build he's made for himself, the navibear is surprisingly strong. Yosuke isn’t shy about leaning on him, either—he feels like there’s a cloud inside of his head, and it’s made of powdered rocks. Still, his gaze flicks over to Souji every now and then, checking to make sure he’s there and alive.

Before they split up, Yosuke drags them to a stop and gives the Narukamis a look. “You…you guys are all okay?”

The triplets all share a look. Souji's shoulders tense in a way almost uncharacteristic of him before going slack, while Kaguya remains taut like a violin string. It's Yu who answers, shaking his head.

"It's been a long day. We'll be fine once we sleep it off."

“…Yu. Don’t…don’t downplay it.” Yosuke sways a bit. “I feel like hell, so you can’t be doing too hot either."

"We're not,” comes the response in triplicate, three pairs of stormy eyes settling on the robot for a moment before Kaguya and Souji both look away.

"No one's doing hot, Yosuke", Yu rumbles, still soft. "Like I said. We'll sleep it off." He glances around at the group. "All of us." After a pause, he slowly begins to manage a small, quiet smile. "...And tomorrow, you can all come over, and we can actually enjoy solving this dumb case, mm?"

“…All right.” Yosuke sighs, but stops giving them the stink-eye in exchange for returning the smile. “I’ll…make something. I dunno, cookies. Something that I can’t make taste funny.”

"Oh!" Teddie brightens from where he's holding the robot up. "Cookies! I can help with that!"

"Y'mean you'll try eatin' them,” Kanji snarks, rolling his eyes.

"Tasting!" the navibear insists, sticking his tongue out. "That's helping!"

Yukiko giggles, and then shares a look with Chie which, combined with the spark glinting in Rise's, can only spell culinary catastrophe, but the small chuckle from _Yu_ of all people cracks both the exhaustion and any preliminary worry into a group of snickers and snorts.

Yosuke calms first, but that is only because he’s pretty sure that any more laughing is going to make him faceplant, Teddie or no Teddie. “Okay, cookies taste-tested by Teddie. _Tomorrow_. I’m pretty sure tonight I’d just set the house on fire.”

The Narukamis all agree and, like the sun peering through the clouds for a split second, all smile a very small smile before everyone says their goodbyes and splits off for home.

Yosuke looks over his shoulder one last time, watching Souji’s retreating back. Then he turns toward his own home, leaning more heavily on Teddie than he had been before. “C’mon. Tomorrow’s still waiting.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is what happens when your meds go weird. We're getting to the halfway point kids!


	14. What Is and What Should Never Be

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which The Bear Is A Fool

July 2011

 

“I brought cookies. Ted helped make sure they tasted right.”

Yosuke thinks he can be excused for leaning on the doorjamb. Somehow, he still has a headache, and a few of his systems are still reporting odd things. But his smile is real as he looks into the house. “Everyone else here?"

"Yeah." Souji seems relieved to see him, taking the cookie tin with a smile and laughing a little as Teddie bounds in, attaching himself in a hug to Kaguya and Yu before being gently shoo'd out of the kitchen and into the living room.

Yosuke slides into the living room himself, plopping in front of the couch and leaning his head against the cushions. “So, who’s cooking?”

“We are!” Chie’s head pokes out of the kitchen, and Yosuke would have gone pale if he still could do that.

“No. Not only no, but _hell_ no."

Souji, who had followed him after placing the tin on the counter, pats him on the shoulder, then leans over and whispers, "Yu made food before they got here so there's something edible once it's all over."

“Oh, thank _god_.” Yosuke lets his head fall back. “I do not need _more_ of a headache.”

Souji gives him another pat. Kaguya ambles out of the kitchen just enough to lean on the frame, sipping her drink and looking almost amused.

Yosuke sighs, then sits up a bit. “You three doing ok? That was rough on me—I can’t imagine what it was like for you."

Souji manages a tired smile. "We're okay. Just a little shaken, that's all.”

Kaguya throws a thumbs up. Yu leans down to peek over the counter and throw up his own thumbs up.

“Good.” Yosuke grabs Souji’s wrist and squeezes it. “If you need to talk, I’m here.”

“Talk about sad stuff later!” Chie comes out of the kitchen, grinning as she carries her contribution out. “We’ve got food to eat!”

_“You_ have food to eat.” Yosuke climbs up onto the couch. “ _I_ am going to lay here and make sure my systems are actually repairing themselves.”

Souji frowns and pokes him in the leg. "Wouldn't eating something with metal in it help with..." He gestures vaguely.

“Already did, while we were baking cookies.” Yosuke grimaces slightly. “This is more ‘I think I corrupted some programming’ than ‘I think I broke something.’”

The silver-haired boy paled significantly. "...H-how..."

“I’m not a navigator.” Yosuke shrugs. “I can use my sensors for actual physical sensing no problem, but trying to break through those shells was not what I was designed to do.” After a moment, he cracks open his eye. “If you want to check on me, feel free.”

Souji blinks and turns a faint shade of pink, but before he can respond Chie shouts again.

“Hey, are we going to eat or not?!”

“That’s up to you guys.” Yosuke rolls over, exposing the port on his neck just in case Souji does decide to run a diagnostic.

To no-one’s surprise, Yu is the only one capable of cooking an edible omelette. It amuses Yosuke to listen, though—there’s something reassuring about the general gentle bickering. Even without the case hanging over them, their friendships are still strong, and he voices that thought to Souji as the others munch on cookies.

Souji smiles at him—he’s finished his diagnostics—over his drink, sweetly. "Yeah. Looks like.”

“I am definitely not going back to getting stuck in trash cans alone.” He closes his eyes and pillows his head on Souji’s leg. “By the way, everything seems to be fine with that diagnostic, right?”

"...Yeah. Looks like everything wrong with you's all in your head."

Kaguya snorts from across the table, "Like we needed a diagnostic to tell us that", and gets a wrapper thrown at her by her brother. Yu watches this with some amusement and no move to stop it.

Yosuke doesn’t look as he grabs a pillow and hefts it at her as well. “Hey, not nice. Be nice to the invalid robot.”

"Make me,” she says as she snatches the pillow out of the air and returns it.

"Play nice kids,” Yu comments, taking a sip from his own drink as Nanako giggles.

“Okay, I brought you cookies. No more cookies for you.” Yosuke pouts over-dramatically as he catches the pillow.

"Yu, am I actually banned from the cookies?"

"No."

“ _Guys,_ " Souji sighed, exasperated, though there's a laugh just faintly in his voice.

“Fine, fine.” Yosuke snugs into Souji’s leg more securely, eyes closed, and goes back to listening to the room.

Teddie and Nanako have ended up on the back stairs, sipping on lemonade, and Yosuke zeroes in on their conversation.

“I think it’s about time I headed back to my side.”

Yosuke’s eyes snap open as the words fall out of Teddie's mouth, and he’s just in time to see the fork nearly fall out of Kaguya's hand before her grip tightens sharply. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees as Souji freezes for a moment midway into lifting his drink. Yu takes a sharp breath.

But the pauses only last for seconds before the triplets continue on, and it's lost in Nanako's response anyhow.

“Are you going away somewhere?”

“Yeah, since they kept their promise.”

Nanako droops, but the motion is only momentary as she perks again. “Could you stay if you made a promise with me?”

Teddie looks baffled. “A promise with you?”

“Yep. Promise to come to play with me!” Nanako’s answer is so simple, but simplicity seems to be the best answer here, because Teddie brightens as well and takes her pinky.

“Pinky promise! If I lie, stick a thousand needles in my eye!”

Yosuke huffs softly, then half-closes his eyes again. “Idiot. None of us are going anywhere. What doesn’t he get about that?”

Souji smiles a very faint smile at him over his drink. Kaguya bites a little harder on her fork.

Yu says nothing. He just watches Teddie and his little cousin, and letting out a very long breath, like he had been holding it for months. 

Once again, it was lost in the din, amongst plates clicking and loving torment being bantered back and forth over the table.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little breather chapter; things are going to ramp up again soon enough.


End file.
